


The Alphabet of Mistress Badass and Master Danger

by Triangulum



Category: X-Men (Movies), X-Men (Movieverse)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-05-09
Updated: 2013-10-01
Packaged: 2017-12-10 21:28:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 13
Words: 31,057
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/790358
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Triangulum/pseuds/Triangulum
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He cupped her face in his hands, staring into those ivy eyes. "I never gamble anything I'm not willing to lose."</p><p> A collection of related oneshots of the ABCs of the lovely Rogue and Gambit.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. A is for Arkansas

**Author's Note:**

> So this is pretty self-explanatory from the title, each chapter will focus on an aspect of the lovely Rogue and Gambit and because I love playing with forms, it'll be alphabetical. I love this fandom, comic fans along with sci-fi are the best fans in the world and they make the best fan fiction readers.

**A is for Arkansas**

Rogue had been to Arkansas dozens of times, mostly when she was a kid whenever her parents started to feel in need of a break. Rogue had dreaded these trips, they meant she'd be stuck for at least a weekend at her dad's sister's house. Aunt Millie was at least 60 years old, loved cats, and forced a young Rogue to drink tea and watch hours of _I Love Lucy_ reruns. Rogue had never hated the show before Aunt Millie but now, even when she turned 25, the theme song was enough to drive her from a room. Jubilee noticed, found a recording of the theme song and blasted it over the school's speaker system. Rogue had recruited Logan and the two of them had stolen Jubilee's door in retaliation.

When Storm had assigned Rogue a solo mission to a small town in Arkansas, she was less than thrilled. Especially since it was twenty minutes from the home of her Aunt Millie, who had told Rogue's dad that he should burn the mutant out of her after the David incident.

The mission had gone well enough. The family of the young mutant girl had been very receptive to the idea of a mutant school but were unsure if they wanted their little girl so far from them. It had brought a smile to Rogue's face. She was quite proud of her fellow southerners. She'd promised to give them some time to think about it.

There wasn't much to do in the town. Its downtown area consisted of a church, gas station, two bars, a store, and a strip club. Rogue had gotten the desire for bars out of her system when she turned 21, but there was a small casino attached to the side that she figured might be a good place to kill a few hours. All she had to do was hope Storm didn't look too closely at her expense account bill.

A man greeted her at the door with a smile and $5 in chips, a sort of welcoming promotion. Rogue was feeling extremely overdressed in her black business pants and form fitting emerald scoop neck long sleeved shirt and dainty gloves. She didn't particularly enjoy dressing this nice, but she wanted to make a good impression on the girl's family. Everyone else in the miniature casino was wearing jeans.

The man took her blazer to the coat room and wished her luck. She thanked him and made her way to the small row of slot machines but was intercepted not even halfway there by a man with slicked back hair and a toothpick in his mouth. He bit a cherry off the end of the toothpick, rolling the fruit with his lips before winking at her. Without speaking, Rogue turned on her heel and made her way to the poker tables. Poker wasn't really her favorite but she'd absorbed enough of Logan to be a decent player.

"Is this seat open?" she asked, approaching the closest table. She glanced over her shoulder at cherry-boy who had his eyes fixed on her ass. The two men at the table chuckled.

"Take a seat little lady," the older one said. He tipped his hat to her, revealing a bald head. "My name's Rex, don't mind Toby over there, thinks he's a ladies' man. Some guys got no shame." Rex shook his head. The other man chuckled and nodded in greeting to her.

"The name's Gambit," he said.

"Well in keeping with the nickname theme, I'm Rogue," she said.

The man, Gambit's, lips quirked. "Can't imagine why."

Rogue slightly narrowed her eyes at him, unsure if that was sarcasm or not. "So, Gambit. Why exactly are you wearing sunglasses inside?" she asked, teasing edge in her voice.

"Unnerving as hell," Rex muttered.

"Eye injury," Gambit said dramatically. "Light gives me a hell of a headache."

"Sorry to hear that," Rogue answered, still unsure if she should believe anything he said.

The dealer dealt and conversation momentarily ceased. Rogue appraised her cards, bets were placed, cards were exchanged. Rogue happily ended up with three aces but thanks to Logan's psyche, she merely raised an indifferent eyebrow. She didn't see Gambit's eyes focused on her from behind his glasses. He hesitated, then placed his bet.

"So chère, what is it you do for a living?" Gambit asked.

Rogue called before answering. "Well, at the moment I seem to be in acquisitions, "she said, thinking of the little girl she was trying to convince to come back with her.

Gambit smirked at that. "What a coincidence, so am I. In town on business?"

"Yep," she said. The bet was to Rex, who sighed and folded. "You?"

Gambit shrugged. "Just passing through on my way home."

"New Orleans?"

"You have an ear for accents, Ms. Mississippi," Gambit said, earning smile and a nod of acknowledgement.

"I'm a farmer!" Rex piped up, feeling a little left out.

"Your hand has been called," the dealer said. "Show your cards." Rogue laid her cards down. "Three of a kind, aces. Sir?"

"Very nice," Gambit complimented her. He laid his cards down, causing her to sigh.

"Four of a kind, queens, your win, sir."

The three of them played a few more hands and made light conversation, giving Rex a chance to talk about his farm and his love of his home state of Arkansas. Rogue folded a couple times, won twice, but Gambit wiped the floor with her and Rex. Partway through their last hand, angry voices from the bar drifted to them.

"…should just get the hell out of our country!"

"Man, don't go picking fights with mutants, it won't end well!"

"Screw that, the freaks…"

Gambit stilled at the conversation and noticed Rogue's jaw clench, her eyes sliding in the bar's direction. Her hand twitched on the table. Gambit managed to catch her eye and subtly shake his head, unsure if she would listen.

"Don't mind them!" Rex roared loudly. "Bunch of nasty, old, cousin-marrying bigots! Giving Arkansas a bad name!"

"What'd you say to me, old man?" the guy at the bar hollered back, walking up to the table with his nervous friend behind him.

Rex stood an inch from the man's face. "I said you're a cousin-marrying bigot," he spat. Just like that the fight was on. The dealer jumped back as Rex threw the man onto the table. Rogue backed up, ready to jump in but Rex seemed to be handling himself just fine.

Gambit was suddenly next to her and offered his arm. In a mock formal voice he said, "Shall we retire from this tom-foolery, ma'am?" He tipped an invisible top hat to her.

Rogue laughed and carefully took his arm, making sure no skin was touching. Luckily this was easy as he was wearing a trench coat over his magenta silk shirt. Gambit led them to cash in their chips then out of the little casino.

"Look at us, all this in front of us!" Gambit said, gesturing to the open highway punctuated by a small gas station.

"Yes, beautiful asphalt!" Rogue said drily.

"We could go somewhere else," Gambit suggested, waggling his eyebrows suggestively.

Rogue rolled her eyes. "Nice try, swamp rat."

Gambit laughed. "Swamp rat? That's not very ladylike. Especially coming from such a river rat."

Rogue clutched her chest. "You wound me!"

Gambit eyed the closed gas station then pulled Rogue by the arm. "It's closed, Cajun," Rogue pointed out. Gambit just pulled her harder. He let go of her arm when they reached the side of the building. He cracked his knuckles then hopped on top of the locked ice chest before pulling himself up to the roof. His head popped over the edge, a grin covering his face and offered a hand.

Rogue rolled her eyes and jumped up, swinging onto the roof next to him. Gambit's eyebrows rose. "I don't get to say this often, chère, but I'm impressed."

Rogue settled next to him. "You must not meet very interesting women," she said with a smirk. "I'm not just another pretty face."

"I would never assume so," Gambit said. He lay back on the roof and turned his eyes to the clear sky. "It's beautiful, no?"

Rogue lowered herself reluctantly next to him, making sure to keep a safe distance between them. She had to agree, out in the country the sky wasn't poisoned with city lights and you could actually see the swishes and patterns of the twinkling clusters of billions of stars. Moments like this she could truly feel how miniscule and insignificant the world really was in the universe. It was unreal, breathtaking.

"This is incredibly cheesy you know," Rogue said after a few silent minutes. She could see Gambit's profile grin.

"Oui. But that's the thing about good cheese, it makes the best things in life even better," he said.

Rogue laughed, one of the most beautiful and carefree sounds Gambit had heard. "Like wine?"

"And pasta."

"Fondue."

"Oui, and toothpicks."

"Toothpicks are one of the best things in life?" Rogue asked.

"No, but you have to admit they're a lot better with cheese."

Rogue laughed again. "Okay, I'll give you that one."

They stared silently up. Occasionally, there would be a burst of sound from the casino but for the most part the night was mercifully silent. The buzzing hum of the insects swept over Rogue who suddenly felt the sting of homesickness. She hadn't realized quite how much she missed the country until she ventured back.

"There's nothing quite like it, is there?" she muttered.

"No, there isn't," Gambit answered, voice equally low. He sensed a romantic mood, one he'd not-so-sneakily created, and leaned over to kiss her.

It turned out he'd sensed the mood incorrectly. Rogue violently jerked away from him. He threw his hands up in surrender as Rogue scuttled away like a crab as fast as she could.

"Whoa, whoa chère! Wasn't going to hurt you," Gambit said, trying to calm her.

"Well I would've hurt you!" Rogue hissed, adrenaline pumping through her body.

"I don't follow…"

"And you don't want to unless you're a fan of comas," Rogue snapped.

"What?"

"That's what happens to people who kiss me," Rogue said, sitting with her knees tucked to her chest.

Realization dawned. He'd suspected in the bar, but now…"You're a mutant."

"Grab your torch and pitchfork," she muttered. Gambit moved to sit next to her and tipped his sunglasses, revealing his eyes. Bright red swirled over the black sclera.

"If you wanted to fork, all you had to do was say so," he said with a wink.

Rogue managed a hollow laugh. "Sorry, didn't mean to freak on you."

"It's fine. Not the best reaction for a man's ego, but I'm sure I'll survive."

"I doubt ego is something you're short on," Rogue said with a snort.

Gambit was about to respond when his phone rang. He glanced down and cursed. "I need to take this." He took one of her gloved hands and delicately kissed the back of it. "Until next time chère." He hopped down and out of sight, answering the phone and listening to his brother's fast voice. He grunted and muttered answers, all the while his mind resting on the strange yet enticing woman he'd met in a miniscule town that he hadn't even intended on visiting in the first place.

Rogue never expected to see the man known as Gambit again. When he showed up at the mansion months later looking for Storm, Rogue's brain just about seized from shock. Gambit was stunned too but recovered quickly.

"My Rogue!" he cried, kissing her hand with a wink. "I haven't seen you since our night under the stars!"

The snikt of Logan's claws welcomed him to the mansion.


	2. B is for Bullshit

They were instant friends from the second Gambit stepped through the front doors. Neither one of them would tell anyone what he'd meant by their night under the stars, leading to wild rumors mostly fueled by Jubilee. It quickly became well known that if you were looking for Rogue, you could probably find her with Gambit and vice versa. Someone had made a jab about how of course the playboy wanted to conquer the untouchable Rogue, that he would eventually leave her as a worn out glove. He'd had a bloody nose the next time anyone saw him. Gambit fought, adamantly, that they were just friends and that the people at the mansion were sorry excuses of friends if they didn't even spend any time with her.

If there was one thing Gambit could always count on Rogue for since the start of their friendship, it was to call him out on his bullshit. Which she did, frequently, with barely concealed glee. It was never malicious, Gambit was quite sure Rogue didn't have it in her to be blatantly mean spirited. Their jabs and debates were always in good fun, neither of them crossing the invisible line more than once or twice. It made people exceedingly uncomfortable to see Gambit teasing the notoriously volatile Rogue, but they all let out a collective breath when she just laughed at him and called, "Bullshit."

Logan, predictably, didn't like him being around Rogue much but had to begrudgingly admit that he did seem to make her happy. He was less thrilled when their friendship slithered across the line into something a bit more.

"Sex addict," Rogue proclaimed cheerfully.

"Bullshit!" Gambit argued, nuzzling his nose into the fabric covered nape of her neck. "I just have a healthy appreciation for the human body…"

Rogue's laugh caught in her throat as Gambit's gloved fingers grazed a spot on her inner thigh. "I guess so," she managed to say.

"If you're complaining, chère, I could always stop," he said into her ear, slowly trailing his fingers down the sensitive skin on the inside of her leg.

"Don't you dare," Rogue growled, eliciting a chuckle from the man at her side.

No one had ever touched her the way Gambit had. She'd expected him, like Bobby, to turn his attentions elsewhere once she made it clear that her skin could suck the life out of him. But like the night in Arkansas where he hadn't shied away from her, he stick to her side like a bug in flypaper since he showed up at the mansion. She'd reminded him a week into his stay with that that she'd suck the essence out of him.

"I know," he's responded cheerily, hand not moving from the small of her back. "But I'm touching your shirt, not your skin. Unless you really are as fuzzy as your sweater."

Rogue had narrowed her eyes, ready for any sign that he was kidding, but the small touches continued. A brush of arms as he reached past her for another waffle at breakfast. A kiss to the back of the hand when he wished her goodnight. The arm slung over her shoulders when they walked in the hall. He took the indifference Logan treated her skin with one step further, actually seeking out her touch.

The first time he kissed her, Rogue was too shocked to slap him. It was quick, a fast yet gentle press of lips that left him with only the barest tingle.

"Are you crazy?" she'd yelled when she'd recovered her voice. "I could've put you in a coma!"

"But you didn't," Gambit pointed out. She paused. "I've seen you absorb people, it takes a few seconds. See, now you know you can kiss someone."

"Bullshit," Rogue said. "You didn't do that for my benefit, you did that for you."

Gambit smirked. "Well, partly."

They'd started experimenting not long after that, only ending up with the accidental absorption twice. Gambit utilized gloves, strategically placed sheets and condoms to be only the second man to ever sleep with the elusive Rogue, the first being Bobby during those few months before the cure wore off. Rogue of course had been right, he hadn't done it only for her, he also got a lot out of his relationship with her.

Which of course brought up the conversation…

"I don't know if I'd really call this a relationship," Rogue said hesitantly.

While the 'are we a couple?' talk was relatively foreign to Rogue, Gambit was something of an expert. He took her gloved hands in his, pressing a kiss to the back of each. "Mon chèrie," he said softly, voice caressing her like velvet. "Bullshit." He'd drawn a smile from her and despite her obvious fear, acceptance.

Over the months, the harsh word 'bullshit' because their sweet and tender word for 'liar, liar, pants on fire'.

"I never absorbed an animal!"

"Bullshit."

"My first sex encounter was at nine."

"Bullshit."

"When I absorbed Logan I saw him smoking pot."

"Bullshit."

"I can bounce this ping pong ball off Stormy's head and into that glass of milk."

"Bullshit…but try it anyways."

"I happen to have a girlie side deep deep down, thank you very much."

"Bullshit."

"I swear, I didn't know it was a man thong 'til after I bought it."

"Bullshit."

"Of course I didn't mean to trip Bobby."

"And?"

"And light his shoes on fire…"

"And?"

"…Steal his Twinkies."

"Bullshit."

"It wasn't me, why would I draw a duck on your cheek?"

"Bullshit."

"I've never goaded M'sieur Logan about our sexy times!"

"Bulllllshit!"

"I swear, I forgot that was in the oven. Accidental fire."

"Bullshit."

"My Aunt Millie had a cat that was part tiger."

"Bullshit."

"I walked in on Jubilee and Pete making out in the garage."

"Bullshit. And gross."

But the biggest calling out came during a fight, their first. Neither were sure how it started, but suddenly they were screaming at each other. Gambit vaguely remembered someone warning him of Rogue having a violent temper and he felt they'd made a gross understatement.

"That's now what I said!" Gambit argued.

"It's what you meant!"

"I wasn't aware you recently absorbed any telepaths."

"Shut up, smartass."

"Rogue, I don't care that you don't have it under control, you have to trust me."

"Trust you? Like I trusted Bobby?"

"Stop comparing me to your shit of an ex!"

"Stop comparing me to every other woman you've fucked!"

"I wasn't!"

"Cajun, I swear…"

They'd fumed in silence for minutes, each tired of screaming at the other, only having started in the first place because they were scared and neither wanting to be the first to say so.

"I hate this!" Rogue finally shouted, breaking the silence. "I hate carrying others' nightmares, I hate waking up wondering who I am, I hate it! It's driving me crazy! I hate not being able to touch the man I love!"

"Well I love you too!" Gambit yelled back.

"Well that's the first time we've said that to each other!"

"Yes it is! I'm going to kiss you now!"

"Well you better!"

Gambit grabbed her gently by the neck and pulled her to him, kissing her firmly and quickly, Rogue responding enthusiastically, before pulling away when the tingle of an absorption began. He pulled her to him, wrapping arms around her and rubbing her back, trying to diffuse the tension still riding her body.

"I don't deserve someone like you," Rogue muttered into his chest.

"Mon chère," he muttered, placing a kiss on top of her head. "Bullshit." Her tension eased, anger melting away in the irritating way it seemed to around him.

It was months later when, thanks to packs of kids chorusing "bullshit!" in the halls, Storm put a blanket ban on the word, threatening Rogue and Gambit with dismemberment if it continued.

"As long as you let me keep my favorite member," Gambit said with a wink. Rogue whacked him with the book she was reading.

"It's bullcookies now," Storm said firmly, pointing a finger at them.

Gambit barked out a laugh. "Bullcookies? Hey Rogue, twenty bucks says Stormy's wearing blue panties."

"Bullcookies, swamp rat. Logan has a tattoo of Tweety Bird on his ass."

"Bullcookies. I once dated a Swedish supermodel."

"Bullcookies, she was Danish."

"Damn."

"Absorbed that memory, sugar," Rogue said. "The lightning last night was Storm electrocuting Logan when he came home late again."

"Bullcookies!"

"I bullcookies you not!"

"Stormy, you fiend!"

Storm threw her hands up in exasperation. "Remy, you've been a horrible influence on that girl, you know that?"

"Bullcookies."


	3. C is for Control

Rogue's lack of control had always bothered her, which wasn't surprising at all. Since her mutation had manifested, there was a dark part of her mind that hated it and herself. Once in awhile she would focus too much on that and was filled with fiery anger and depression and sink into what people would call one of her 'moods'. Only Gambit knew that her depression made it easier for the psyches' own emotional pain to emerge and drown her completely. If the others could feel the depth of her hidden unhappiness, they'd be shocked that she didn't live in a constant state of misery.

After enduring his first of what he would later dub 'Rogue rages', Gambit merely sat quietly on her bed, waiting for her to calm down and stop throwing things. Finally, after an hour (Gambit didn't think it was possible to rage for that long), she collapsed to the ground, head in her hands, screaming for the voices to shut up.

Gambit moved swiftly and plopped himself onto the ground next to her. She groaned and leaned her head onto his shoulder, prompting him to curl an arm around her. He kissed her temple quickly and let her sag against him for a few minutes before speaking.

"Mon chèrie, now don't take this the wrong way, but have you even tried to get control?" he asked as delicately as possible.

Rogue shrank back as if he'd hit her. "You think I _want_ this?" Gambit felt distinctly in trouble now, her voice having dropped to a low hiss.

"Non," Gambit said placatingly.

"You think this is my fault?"

Gambit mentally swore, trying to think of what he could say without digging himself a deeper hole. "I think maybe we could explore new methods is all," he said calmly, hands up in surrender.

Rogue assessed him shrewdly for a moment before sighing and slumping back on his shoulder, her body draining of tension. Gambit took this as an encouraging sign and kept talking. "What kind of things do you do now to try for control?"

"Well I used to have meditation sessions with the professor before he died," Rogue said. "We tried to control the psyches, keep them from getting too loud."

"Do you still do that?"

"Yeah, for a few hours a day."

"What about your skin?" he asked.

Rogue cocked her head to the side. "What about it?"

Gambit was torn between exasperation and excitement. "Do you ever touch people with the goal of not absorbing them or is it all accidental absorptions and purposeful ones? Do you ever touch people on purpose while trying not to absorb them?"

"Accidents or in fights," Rogue said slowly, not sure where he was going with this.

"Well then you're not really trying to not absorb people," Gambit said simply. Rogue looked back at him blankly. "It reminds me of when my mutation manifested."

"How?" Rogue asked, tracing his hand with her gloved one. Gambit never really talked about those first few years. He'd told her his powers were unpredictable but flat out refused to say much more than that.

"I was uncontrollable," Gambit said softly, his eyes focusing on their entwined hands. "At first it wasn't just things I touched, but things blew up when I just looked at them. Organic matter. People got hurt. I blew off a man's arm once, and that wasn't even the worst of it." Rogue rubbed her free hand over his back. "Basically, I was out of control. I was overwhelmed and had no idea what to do, just like you. I was used to how it felt to have my powers control me, so I didn't know how it felt to control them."

Rogue frowned. "So you're saying what?"

"Think of it as mutant power hypertension. It's like when a muscle is trained to stay in one position and needs to be retrained to work right," Gambit said, snapping out of his own memories.

A slow, amused smile crept over Rogue's face. "So you're suggesting we get me on a power physical therapy program?" she asked.

Gambit grinned and quickly placed a kiss on her forehead. "Oui."

So Gambit and Rogue began their efforts to retrain her skin. They started slowly, trying to get Rogue to feel if there was any difference between a purposeful absorption and one where she was actively trying not to absorb. They enlisted Logan's help because they wanted her to immediately feel the difference and Logan was the only one in the mansion who didn't need a long rest period between absorptions. Rogue was a bit nervous about the whole process, but Logan could smell the excitement on her when she handed him a glass of water after the second absorption.

"I'm fine, darlin'," he assured her, waving off her concern. "Now, why don't you tell us why you're so excited?"

"I could feel it," she said, nearly bouncing. "Like, when it was an accident I could feel a jolt, like a static shock. It was like my skin was kicking in! The one on purpose was smoother."

"Congratulations, chère," Gambit said and kissed her lips just long enough that there was barely a tingle. Logan growled from his chair. "See, there's a delay too! We can work with this."

They practiced and practiced. A lot. They would sit in the same room for hours until she was falling asleep and didn't expect it then Logan or Gambit would sneak up and stick a hand on her arm. The more she paid attention to the feeling on the accidents, the slower absorption got when she actively tried to turn her skin off.

Gambit was her chief test subject and over the weeks of practicing so Rogue gained a massive amount of his memories.

_Gambit was a small boy, dodging through the crowded New Orleans streets. He squeezed by a woman, apologizing as he 'accidentally' stepped on her toe and darted back into to crowd. She didn't notice her wallet and bracelet were missing. That night, he was selling off the bracelet, stomach aching. He couldn't wait to get a sandwich in him._

_-_

_He was still a child, in line at a cheap deli. He stepped forward and ordered his soup and sandwich, eyes down. Miss Madgie was nice, always giving him an extra piece of bread, but he kept his eyes down, sure she wouldn't be quite so understanding if she saw them._

_He thanked her and moved to a corner to eat, happy to be inside on such an abnormally chilly day. He glanced up when the door dinged open and a woman at the table a few feet away gasped and put her hand on her son. Her husband stood, stalking to Gambit's table._

_"You little monster, get the hell out of here!" he spat at Gambit. "Little devil child."_

_"Dave Morris, you back away from that boy right now, you hear!" The man turned to see Miss Madgie behind him, hands on her hips. He didn't miss the meat cleaver hanging from her left hand. The man grumbled and gathered his family to leave. "Watch your grousing boy! Or next time we might not have your roast beef!"_

_She shot the young Gambit a wink before returning to the counter._

_-_

_He was still a little boy being chased through an alley by a group of kids with sticks and rocks._

_"Le Diable Blanc!"_

_"Get him!"_

_He lost them down a different alley, hiding behind a dumpster. He angrily wiped at his eyes. That wouldn't help anything._

_-_

_The streets were crowded again. A young Gambit grinned, targeting the slight bulge in a man's nice suit that signaled a wallet. His hand slipped into the man's pocket and before he could blink there was a hand around his wrist, yanking him around to face the man._

_"And what do you think you're doing?" the man asked._

_"It was my sister," Gambit said with a dramatic sigh and head shake. "She has a stealing problem. I was trying to get your wallet back without you noticing."_

_The man raised an eyebrow and slightly quirked his lips. "What's your name?" Gambit stayed silent. "Let me tell you mine then. I'm Jean-Luc LeBeau."_

_Gambit deflated like a popped balloon. He'd heard of the LeBeaus, what thief hadn't? This man would know exactly what he had been doing. Jean-Luc assessed him up and down. "You're pretty scrawny, boy. Are you hungry?"_

_Gambit nodded slowly, confused. Jean-Luc put his hand on his shoulder. "Well then, let's get this bold little pick pocket a hot meal."_

_Gambit expected any minute for Jean-Luc to cut off his hands but he did nothing but bring him back to a giant house, stuff him with food and shove him into a class with a bunch of other boys his age with nothing more than a, "Pay attention, now."_

_An older boy with messy brown hair looked over curiously. "Hi," he said. "I'm Henri."_

Rogue was sitting on her bed, twirling a pen around her fingers when Gambit groaned and regained consciousness next to her. She smiled, setting the pen down.

"How'd we do?" Gambit asked groggily.

"Okay," Rogue said with a shrug. "I wrote it down in the log."

The log had been Gambit's idea. It was a journal with records of how it felt each time she used her power and how long it took.

"What'd you see this time?" Gambit asked.

"Stuff from New Orleans," Rogue said, face splitting into a grin. "You were a cute kid."

Gambit snorted. "I was a scrawny little berk."

Rogue giggled. "That's why it was adorable."

Gambit cracked his neck and smiled. "And I'm sure you just sprang into existence as a sexy, voluptuous beauty? No awkward stages for the great Rogue," he teased.

Rogue smirked. "Of course not." She fiddled with her hands for a few moments before speaking again. "I feel a little guilty, getting all these memories from you and you're learning nothing from me."

"So tell me," he said.

"Tell you what?"

"Everything, anything you want to," he said with a smile. He settled against the headboard with his legs stretched out, the picture of ease and relaxation.

"Hmm," Rogue said, biting her lip. She racked her brain for something she could tell him that was interesting. Whenever someone straight asks for stories of your life, the brain draws a blank. They flow naturally, not on demand.

"Did you have a pet as a child?" Gambit prompted, sensing her hesitation.

"Yes, we had a cat for awhile named Butter."

"Butter?" Gambit repeated with a grin.

"Yes," Rogue said defensively. "He was a yellow cat!"

Gambit managed to wrangle a polite smile to his face. "She sounds sweet…and not overweight at all."

Rogue smacked him. "Anyways!"

"Favorite book?"  
 _  
"Cleopatra: A Life."_

"What's your real favorite book?"

She glared. "Fine, it's _Ice Station_ but I like _Cleopatra_ , too!"

"Military thrillers, chère look at you!" Gambit grinned. "No erotica?"

"I'm gonna break your nose."

Gambit laughed. "Where would you be if you weren't here?"

Rogue's face sobered at this, eyes turning to her hands in her lap. Gambit groaned and wanted to hit himself. Pasts weren't exactly topics either of them openly discussed and this question was dangerously close to hard topics.

"I'm sorry, I-"

"No, no it's okay," she said, brushing off his concern. "I don't see this as someplace I was forced to end up, but somewhere I'm glad I am."

"That's entirely too healthy."

Rogue laughed. "Mental health isn't something I'm often accused of," she said. "But if I wasn't at Xavier's, I'd want to be…somewhere warm, but only if I didn't absorb everyone in their bikinis."

"And so we shall!" Gambit said, springing to his feet. Rogue jumped in surprised as he ripped through a nearby magazine, pulling out a page. He held it up in front of her. She took in the sandy beach scene punctuated by a woman in a very small swimsuit. "This," he said, flicking the picture, "is what we're going to do!"

"The Corona girl?"

"No! The white sandy beach, drinks in coconuts, nude beaches," he said with a wink.

Rogue raised an eyebrow. "Yeah that'll be great, I'd literally have boobs of death."

"Non," Gambit said cheerfully. "This will be the reward. Once you gain control, we're going to Fiji."

Rogue grinned. "Fiji?"

"Hawaii is too commercial. My family has a very private property in Fiji." He leaned forward and kissed her forehead quickly before he could feel a tingle. "You'll get this chère, I have every confidence in you."

"If you place bets on this, I'll absorb you."

"I would never!"

It went on for months. Rogue was finally getting used to the feeling of her skin being touched. Logan and Gambit would go between surprising Rogue by touching her or having her intentionally absorb them, working out the kinks, the feelings, and differences in each. Progress showed when each time when she tried to withhold absorption, the process became slower and slower until…

"Chère, we've been watching this movie for twenty minutes," Gambit said.

"I know," she said, not taking her eyes off the screen.

"I've been holding your hand," he pointed out.

"I know," she grumbled, focus still on Star Trek.

"Rogue, I'm not wearing any gloves."

Rogue frowned and slowly moved her eyes down to where sure enough, his skin was touching hers. "No…"

"Oui."

"No..ah!" She jerked her hand back when the familiar pull of an absorption sluggishly started. Rogue stared at him, eyes wide. Gambit's face was stretched in a wide grin.

"Focus," he said calmly, holding his hand out in front of her. "Focus on what it felt like for your skin to be off and make it happen again."

Rogue closed her eyes and felt the tingling of her skin that she once took for normal but now knew was the feeling of her skin readying itself to suck the life out of someone. "Defense mechanism," she muttered. "It's just supposed to be a defense mechanism, not a state of being."

Gambit sat quietly while Rogue gathered herself. She imaged a huge master switch in her mind and shut it off, cutting power to her skin. She slowly extended her hand to touch his, deciding to believe that it would work.

Gambit broke into a huge smile. The pull he usually felt was gone, Rogue's hand being just a warm hand. He lunged forward, capturing Rogue's lips with his, his hands feverishly roaming over her face and neck. Rogue hungrily responded, fingers finding as much of his skin as possible.

"Holy SHIT!"

They looked up to see Jubilee in the doorway, mouth open and eyes wide. A gruff call of, "What?" came from down the hall.

"Uhm, nothing Logan! Go back to your beer!" Jubilee yelled back. "Oh my god," she mouthed. "Go! Before he comes in here!"

Word that Rogue could touch spread through the mansion like a Jubilee-ignited wildfire. Dozens tried to congratulate her but quickly learned that being anywhere near Rogue or Gambit's rooms was a god-awful plan. Logan's nose was twitching with all kinds of smells he never wanted to experience. Only Storm kept him from tearing Gambit apart, reminding him that Rogue was 25 and could handle herself. She also pointed out that he still smelled like whatever chick he went home with from the bar the night before, at least Rogue was in a committed relationship. She hadn't thought it was possible for Logan to turn that red.

"Don't you dare make us late to the airport!" Rogue yelled over to Gambit who was packing his things. Half of his suitcase was already filled with teeny tiny bikinis for Rogue, leaving very little room for anything of his. "I'm not wearing all those swimsuits!"

"Some are lingerie," he assured her, stuffing in a few shirts into the overflowing bag.

"Tomorrow, we're going to be lounging on beaches, swimming…"

"Nude beaches," Gambit said with an eyebrow wiggle.

"I'll still break your nose."


	4. D is for Demon

Le Diable Blanc. Devil's spawn. Demon. He'd been called it all. Some tottering old woman told him she'd pray for him. He hated that even more.

Before he joined the LeBeau family, when he was still living on the streets, other street kids ran from him, none willing to spend any time around the strange boy. Not that he had hurt feelings, no of course not, never, it was just harder to elaborately scam hapless people for money or food if he was alone. That's what he told himself at least when he was shivering in a small doorway wrapped in a painter's drop cloth as a blanket.

He'd broken into a small bakery late one night, way after everyone should have gone home. He crept on tiptoes to the case, sneaking loaves of bread and a few pastries into his bag. He was done and nearly out the door when the lights flicked on. Little Remy threw his hand up to shade his eyes against the sudden harsh light. The man gasped and froze, giving Remy the time to slip out of the door and start running as fast as his little legs would take him.

A few seconds later, the baker came bursting out, screaming, "Stop him! Diable blanc!"

But Remy was blocks away, hiding under a semi truck and stuffing his face with bread. The street boys somehow caught wind of the name and began to hiss "Le Diable Blanc!" at him whenever they crossed paths. A large boy, Paul, tried to take Remy's bag of spoils one day. He'd grabbed the smaller boy by the arm, twisting until it nearly broke. Remy slammed his head forward, headbutting the other boy. Paul reared back and screamed, blood spurting down his front.

"The little fucker broke my nose!" Paul screamed.

Remy crouched down a few feet away, arms stretched menacingly in front of him. "Stay back," he growled. "Or Le Diable Blanc will get you, too."

Paul staggered away, supported by a friend. "He's nuts."

"That's right, I'm fucking crazy!" Remy yelled after them. They generally gave him a wider berth after that, though the taunting hisses still occurred, just from a distance.

One of the homeless men that slept in the alley Remy frequented was crazy, but Remy didn't realize that 'til later. The man thought he was a fallen prophet, one that God spoke to but the angels forgot. When young Remy walked by, he saw his eyes then suddenly the young boy was surrounded by fire, miniature devils and beasts and billowing black smoke. The young boy glanced at the homeless man who stared at those black and red eyes.

When young Remy, then just barely seven years old, went to sleep that night wrapped in his painter's drop cloth blanket, the man was waiting. He poured gasoline in a semicircle from one side of the door way to the other, surrounding Remy. With a flick of the lighter, he lit the line of gas. Remy woke to smoke and heat. The man was standing beyond the fire with a bible in hand, his clothing trailing off like dirty robes.

"Demon from hell, with fire I cast you out! Unholy demon, leave this place, go back to hell!" Remy stared at the fire, body shaking. Those licking flames were going to eat him alive. The man, unsatisfied with Remy not falling to hell, screamed louder. "Demon from hell, I cast you OUT!"

He threw the bible at Remy who stumbled, stepping into the flames just long enough to singe his leg. He screamed, falling back into the doorway. No, he wouldn't die like this, crouched in a corner. With a deep breath (and a cough from all the smoke), he ran, launching himself as high as he could over the flames, fire licking his heels. He ran down the alley, ignoring the pain in his leg, leaving the stunned, would-be prophet stumbling after him, though he wasn't nearly as fast as the youth.

Remy was getting quite tired of that, being chased. More people ran after him because of his eyes than his thieving ways, which, he supposed, was a very good thing. The burned leg made it harder to scrounge up enough money for a soup and sandwich at Miss Madgie's deli, but he somehow managed. She gave him a double helping of soup and when he was done, pulled him to the back room.

"So boy, you going to tell me why you're limping?" she asked.

Remy kept his eyes to the side and shrugged. Miss Madgie put her hands on her hips. "You tell me the truth now."

Remy glanced up at her glare and as always, she didn't look away from his eyes. Slowly, he pulled up his pant leg, revealing the angry burn.

Miss Madgie sighed. "Sit." Remy followed her command, taking a seat on a shipping crate. She came back with an oversized emergency kit and started treating the burn. When Remy winced, she tossed him a bottle of ibuprofen. Neither spoke again until she finished and led him back to the restaurant area.

"Come back tomorrow," Miss Madgie called when he made his way to the door. "It's beef stew day."

Miss Madgie's became a regular haunt for him, eating there at least twice a week. She never charged him more than a dollar or two. It was down the street from her deli that Jean-Luc caught his attempt at pick-pocketing and brought Remy home with him. Jean-Luc never commented on his eyes. His new brother, Henri, looked at him curiously but never said anything.

Some of the other kids he trained with stared or pointed, whispering behind hands. Remy refused to answer, keeping his face stoic. Henri wasn't as calm. When a boy made a comment about Remy being a midget devil, Henri locked him in a straight jacket that the older thieves used in escapist training and hung him in the guild hall's foyer.

"A good thief knows when to keep his mouth shut," Henri said reasonably when Jean-Luc questioned him about it. Henri wasn't punished at all. Generally, people kept their opinions to themselves after that. Especially once the young Remy started beating them at every challenge.

Remy was nervous for the first few months in his new home. He was especially anxious the first time Jean-Luc and Tante Mattie brought him to Sunday church with Henri. Remy hung behind the family as they walked up the front step. He eyed the door apprehensively, the old bum's voice screaming I CAST YOU OUT in his mind. He half expected to burst into flames when he walked through the front doors.

"Come on, Remy," he muttered to himself and forced his feet to take him inside. He let out a breath when he made it in without being smote. Luckily, respect for Jean-Luc was too high for anyone to give Remy any problems. He and Henri were seated between Jean-Luc and Tante Mattie. The pastor spoke for a few minutes about the lord's love of all creatures on Earth.

 _This isn't too bad_ , Remy thought to himself. Then the pastor began to passionately yell about sinners who would be condemned to hell.

"And the sinners will be banished from God's kingdom and cast into the depths of hell where fire will burn them! The devil and his demonic minions thrive on the chaos sins cause the human soul! They're cruel, twisted beings outside the reach of heaven and they seek to corrupt and destroy you!"

Remy flinched, eyes shooting down. He slumped in his seat, body jerking each time the pastor said 'demon' or 'devil'. His eyes started pricking and he bit the inside of his cheek to stop himself from crying.

Jean-Luc glanced down, seeing Remy's body give mini spasms. When they all stood to shake hands and spread the lord's love, Jean-Luc discretely guided Remy out, leaving Henri with Tante Mattie for the rest of the service.

Next Sunday, Remy hid in the bathroom, pretending to be too sick to go to church. The same with the week after that, and the week after that until eventually Jean-Luc stopped asking him to come. He also noticed the boy's tendency to stay away from fire.

When Remy became an apprentice thief in his teens, everyone was told to come up with code names, new monikers to distance their real identities from the crime, but also as a calling card for potential clients. Henri bounced between a few names like the Shadow and Dark Fantôme before Remy dubbed him Le Chiot Violet, the purple puppy. No matter how hard he pushed the Shadow, everyone still called him Le Chiot Violet. Someone left a stuffed purple dog in his room. He suspected Remy but of course couldn't prove it.

Henri, grumbling, suggested Remy adopt a name involving gymnastics and pretty leotards seeing as he excelled at anything in the gymnasium. "Non," Remy responded, twirling a playing card in his hand before placing his bet. Henri glanced at his own cards before calling.

"Then what?"

"Le Diable Blanc," Remy said with a dark smile.

Henri stared. "Remy…ah!" The card Remy had just set down glowed magenta and blew up, toppling Henri backwards in his chair.

"Desole, mon frère!" Remy said, throwing his hands away from anything that could blow and fixing his eyes on the table. His eyes glowed again and the glass he'd been looking at exploded in shrapnel-like shards. Henri swore lightly and dusted himself off.

"It's fine," he said, picking pieces of glass out of his coat. "I thought you had this under control?"

"So did I."

He first sought out Mr. Sinister when he blew off a fellow thief's arm. He used every underground contact he had to find this man who was rumored to be able to help. He had to drive days to meet him because when he tried to take a plane, he accidentally blew out the side of it during takeoff. They crashed back to the ground, fire consuming the engines. Remy helped pull out who he could, but at least three were trapped inside, burned alive. One was a little girl. By the time he met Sinister, he was ready to do anything to help his control. He forced himself to ignore the discomfort in the pit of his stomach at Sinister's unmaskable malice.

"It'll only deal with your powers," Sinister said. "It'll do nothing for your eyes."

Remy didn't even hesitate. "That's fine."

Three people told him his eyes were beautiful. The first was a very young Storm when they were friends in New Orleans. He was 12, it was a few years after Remy joined the guild. He'd met Storm on the streets during Mardis Gras when they each tried to pick each the other's pocket. They hit the streets together whenever Remy was given a pick pocketing assignment, running separately then meeting up for a sandwich or game or night at the local amusement park.

They were walking through the rows of street vendors, Storm angling for a funnel cake, when they bumped shoulders with a group of girls eating cotton candy. "Desole," Remy muttered, glancing over before sidestepping them with Storm.

The girls gasped, one even dropped her half eaten pink cotton candy. "Sweetie," one asked, putting her hand on Storm's arm. "Are you okay?" Her eyes shifted to Remy conspiratorially.

Storm's eyes hardened at she pried the girl's fingers off. "I'm just fine," she said coolly. She wrapped her arm around Remy's. "We're more than fine." The girl stared in shock as Storm pulled Remy away by the arm. The sinking hole in Remy's chest was glad that Storm was a good enough friend to not say anything.

"Thanks," he muttered.

"No problem," Storm said lightly and tossed him a sparkling pink wallet with a unicorn plastered to the front that she'd obviously taken when the girl got too close.

Remy laughed, pocketing the wallet. "Stormy, you fiend."

Storm grinned. "Don't call me Stormy."

The second person was Sarah. He dragged her out of the sewers, both of them bloody and broken, her bony head cradled to his chest. When she looked up at the face of her savior, haloed by the light from the night's streetlamps, she stared into his eyes and whispered, "Pretty," before seizing in pain. Remy dropped her at a mutant-friendly clinic before disappearing, needing to disappear from the eyes of Sinister. But it stayed with him, the look of gratitude in her eyes, her face completely empty of fear.

The third person was Rogue. Two weeks into his stay at the mansion, before he and Rogue were anything more than friends, Logan challenged him to a drinking contest. When Rogue walked in to the staff lounge three hours later, she couldn't even count the number of bottles strewn around the two men. Logan was sitting against the side of the couch, hair askew. Gambit (as he went by now, abandoning Le Diable Blanc and Remy to most people) was sprawled on the floor, a bottle of bourbon under his neck like a pillow.

"Gentlemen…" Rogue greeted slowly.

"Rogue!" Gambit said cheerily, bouncing to his feet before falling sideways into the wall. Logan merely grunted.

Rogue sighed and walked over to Gambit. She slung his arm around her shoulder, hoisting him upright. He leaned against her, his weight sagging. "Wha' bout Logan?" Gambit slurred.

Rogue snorted. "Give him fifteen minutes, he'll be fine."

"M'sieur Logan, you alive?" he called over his shoulder. Logan grunted again. "Oh good."

Rogue tried to steer him upstairs to his room but Gambit refused, instead dropping off Rogue and plopping in the middle of the hallway. Rogue sighed and lowered herself to the ground next to him.

"Gambit, if you throw up on me, you'll be picking your teeth out of the carpet," she warned.

"I'm not always Gambit," he slurred, leaning against the wall.

"Oh?"

"Oui. Sometimes I'm…" He lowered his voice to a hush. "…Le Diable Blanc!"

Rogue raised an eyebrow. "Because?"

"Because of these demon eyes."

Rogue snorted again. "You're not a demon," she said. "You're optically unique."

Gambit barked out a laugh. "I like your style, chère."

"I'm serious," Rogue said, tone darkening. "You're here in a school full of mutants, most of who have some serious self esteem issues. You aren't going to be very useful if you can't even see that your damn eyes are beautiful."

Gambit grinned, leaning over. "You think I'm beautiful, eh?"

Rogue rolled her eyes. "I said your eyes," she said, pulling herself to her feet. "Now either I help you upstairs, or you sleep on the ground and risk Storm's wrath"

Gambit groaned and let Rogue pull him up. She managed to drag him upstairs and deposit him in his bed without him falling on his ass again. He tried to kiss her goodnight but she just pushed him down and glared.

Gambit had been at the mansion for four months when Kurt came for a visit. Rogue, still not in control of her powers, carefully gave him a hug before introducing him to Gambit.

"Kurt, this is Gambit, Gambit, meet Kurt Wagner. Gambit's a new teacher here as a favor to Storm. Kurt here lives at a monastery in Germany."

"Pleased to meet you," Kurt said extending his hand.

Gambit shook it, poker face up. "You, too," he said. Rogue glanced at him uncomfortably and slipped her gloved hand into his, giving it a squeeze.

"He's also my brother, in a sense," Rogue said. Gambit's eyebrows rose. "I'll explain later."

Gambit couldn't place why Kurt threw him. It wasn't his appearance, he'd seen stranger mutations. With a start, he realized it was because Kurt was a monk, connected to the church. Rogue assured him that Kurt was a good man, which Gambit didn't doubt, but his last encounter with the clergy didn't exactly leave him with a good taste in his mouth.

"You should talk to him," Rogue said gently, rubbing his shoulders that night. "Believe me, he's been on the receiving end of his fair share of persecution…some similar to yours."

"Maybe," Gambit said.

Rogue pressed a quick kiss to his cheek. "All I can ask is for you to think about it."

Gambit promised he would. He actually thought hard about it but by the time he ran into Kurt again, he hadn't made a decision. Gambit was in the gardens the next morning meditating, or as Rogue liked to call it, his morning communion with nature, when he felt Kurt's presence behind him.

"You're quieter than I thought you'd be," Gambit said without turning around.

"I apologize for disturbing you," Kurt answered. "I didn't expect anyone else to be up this early."

"It's no problem," Gambit said, turning to face the other man. "Rogue didn't send you out here?"

Kurt frowned, thick eyebrows pulling together in confusion. "No, was she supposed to?"

"Non, just thought she might have," Gambit said. He stood, brushing dirt from his clothes and made to leave.

"Have I offended you, Herr Gambit?" Kurt asked calmly. "I seem to make you rather uncomfortable."

"You haven't," Gambit assured him, immediately surged with guilt. "I've just had…unpleasant experiences with the church."

Kurt nodded. "As have I."

Gambit raised an eyebrow. "And you still became a monk?"

"Oh yes," Kurt said. "I have been chased through towns, beaten and nearly burned alive for being a 'demon'."

Gambit nearly winced at that. "I've had…similar experiences," Gambit said and tilted his sunglasses down for a moment.

Kurt nodded. "It was the ears and tail for me. But it doesn't matter to my brothers at the monastery. They know evil isn't contained in cartilage."

Gambit smirked. "That's good of them."

"Yes, I suppose you have a similar experience here," he said. "You know you aren't marked as evil, don't you?"

Gambit looked at him for a few moments before answering. "Oui. If I had the chance, I wouldn't change them. I've always liked them, I just didn't think I was supposed to like them."

Kurt smiled. "I'm glad to hear it. We are all meant to love all of ourselves. Hateful people will always find a reason to hate, the key is to not help them out or worse, agree with them."

Gambit smiled and clapped the other man on the back. "Well you sold me on you. Not the church, but you're an all right fuzzy elf."

Kurt bowed graciously. "And I am glad you make my sister so happy."

They meditated together for awhile before Gambit made his way to mansion and scaled his way into Rogue's window. He slithered into bed, wrapping a careful arm around her. She jerked awake and swung blindly, almost hitting Gambit in the nose.

"It's me, chère!" he said, jumping back.

"Jesus," Rogue groaned, falling back to her pillow. "How many times have I told you it's dangerous to sneak up on me?"

Gambit grinned. "I always thought that meant accidental absorptions, not your trying to crack my skull."

"Your assumption."

"Sorry," he said, still grinning.

"Liar."

"Oui."

Rogue sighed and vaguely motioned to him, inviting him back to the bed. He crawled in, wrapping an arm around her.

"I spoke to your brother the brother. Do they call monks brothers still? Brother Kurt?"

"You did?"

"Oui."

"And?"

"And he's not a bad man. Not that I expected anyone related to you to be anything more than angelic."

Rogue rolled her eyes. "So," she said slowly, "is everything good?"

"Oui," Gambit said, smiling at her. "Everything's good. I'm still not going to church."

"That's fine," Rogue said. "If you'd been mean to my brother, I'd have had to beat you up."

"Well, there are a few better activities we can do that involve the word 'beat'," Gambit said with a cheeky smile. That time Rogue did hit him.


	5. E is for Elephant, Empty, Epinikion

**E is for Elephant**

Gambit figured out that Rogue loved elephants when the school went on a field trip to the local zoo. Sam was making a disgusted face at the elephant pen, staring at a popping elephant. "Gross," he muttered.

"Anything's gross if you look at their butthole," Pixie said with a laugh. Sam made a face and moved on. Rogue, however, stayed still, a small smile playing at her lips.

Gambit moved up behind her, trailing fingers from her neck down to her waist where he rested his hand. "You okay, chère?"

"Hm? Oh, yeah, just looking," she said, motioning to the elephant by the water hole, shaking its big ears. Rogue grinned, a purely happy, engrossed smile. Gambit ran his eyes over her enraptured face and smiled to himself.

When Rogue got back to her room that night, there was a little silver elephant sitting on her pillow. She cocked her head in confusion as she ran her fingers over the little grooves. It was tiny, not much bigger than a monopoly piece, but heavy. She twirled it in her hand before setting it next to her lamp and going about her night.

A few days later, Gambit flourished a little box at her. She looked up from her book. "Yes?"

"It's a present," Gambit said, obviously.

"I see that," she said with a smirk. "Any reason why?"

"Well it's a present for you and for me," he admitted.

She frowned suspiciously and almost choked on her own tongue when she opened it. It was a little man thong with an elephant's face on the front with a long trunk on the front that housed…

"Do you put your penis in the trunk?"

Gambit grinned. Rogue shoved the package back at him, laughing. "You keep that in your room," she said, trying to breathe past the laughter.

"Oh for later then?" Gambit said with a wink, then disappeared out of the door.

Rogue wasn't a stupid woman, she figured Gambit was giving her the elephants. She wasn't sure why she was surprised he noticed, it was part of his profession to notice things. But when a real, live elephant appeared on the front lawn, she had no idea what to say.

Gambit dragged her outside, surrounded by a crowd of kids. A smiling man stood there next to a small elephant with what looked like a very strange saddle.

"Remy, what…?"

"Elephant rides," he said with a flourish and a bow. Rogue's words failed her, she just started like a stunned idiot. Gambit pulled her forward, helping her up. Kids formed a line by Gambit, all waiting for turns.

"Gambit," she whispered. "How'd you do this?"

"Money, charm," he said with a shrug. "Love my Roguey."

She grinned. "Love my swap rat."

Logan stared disapprovingly from the side, his nose twitching at the offending smell.

"You okay mon ami?" Gambit asked.

"Why do you think I never go to the zoo?" he grunted. Logan's eyes followed Rogue's progress around the yard, her cheek splitting grin. "You did good," he grumbled reluctantly.

"Sorry?" Gambit asked. "I wasn't paying attention, what was that?"

"I'll skewer ya."

"Kinky."

**E is for Empty**

Rogue hadn't heard from Gambit all day, which was unusual but nothing to really be concerned about. They were both busy, classes, training, dodging Logan's disapproving looks. She went to his room that night to find it empty and unlocked. She frowned. She couldn't remember a single time since she'd known him that Gambit didn't lock his door. She glanced around and nothing was obviously out of place, but the room still had an odd feel to it.

"Logan!" Rogue turned on her heel in search of her friend. If there was one thing both Gambit and Logan had drilled into her head was that her instincts were almost always right and right now they were screaming at her that something was wrong. There was no reason why, but she was sure.

"Logan!" She threw open his bedroom door to find Logan lounging on his bed, freshly opened beer in hand. He merely glanced at her as if he'd known she was coming. Considering his senses, he probably did.

"Something I can do for you, Stripes?"

"I need your nose."

He held out his hand. "Absorb away."

"I need you AND your nose."

"Why?" he asked suspiciously.

"Gambit's gone," she said.

"Gambit's gone a lot."

"He usually tells me," Rogue said. "This isn't some girlie 'ohmygod my boyfriend isn't calling me' thing, Logan. He's not here, his door isn't locked, he isn't answering his phone-"

"His door is unlocked?" Logan asked, frowning.

" _Yes,_ " Rogue said. She put her hands on her hips, glaring as if daring him to disagree.

"That's weird," Logan admitted. "But it doesn't mean-"

"Logan, don't you dare say I'm overreacting. All my psyches even feel like something is off."

He was quiet for a moment before saying, "Okay," standing up and walking out with Rogue following.

They took their motorcycles, Logan in the lead. They followed Gambit's scent to a nearby bar, but Logan could tell he was long gone. By a wall near the alley were scorch marks, just like the ones Gambit's charged cards made when they hit something. Logan looked at Rogue warily.

They followed a trail from bar to bar, casino to casino, until finally it left them on a track to a woodsy park. Logan stopped, Rogue behind him, and they followed in on foot. About a mile in, Gambit was flopped on the ground, a bottle of bourbon lying by his head. Logan pushed Rogue forward.

"This ain't my area of expertise, darlin'."

"I'd say drinking is solidly your area," Rogue said snarkily before moving forward. Gambit's heavy lidded eyes opened a bit when he heard her move forward.

"S'matter chère?" he asked, sitting up. "You look pissed."

"Well we just played Where In The World is Gambit Sandiego with the whole state of New York looking for you," she said lightly, sitting next to him. "So, I'm going to be pissed if you don't give me a reason why."

Gambit groaned and collapsed back down, head in Rogue's lap. She sighed, running fingers through his auburn hair. Instead of soft as usual, it was matted and sweaty, like he'd been rolling in dirt. For awhile they just sat there quietly, his head in her hands, her fingers rubbing gently around his scalp.

"Roguey," he mumbled.

"Yeah?" she asked.

"M'name's Remy," he said.

She frowned, eyebrows drawn together. "I know that."

"You can call me that, you know," he said.

Rogue smiled slightly. "I'll do that from now on."

"I don't know yours." Rogue stilled, her fingers freezing during their ministrations. But Gambit plowed on, not waiting for an answer. "I don't know...anything about you, not really."

"You know more than the others," she said softly.

"All I know is that at any mo-mo-moment, you could slip away from me, and I wouldn't even know where to look," he mumbled.

Rogue turned his head to look up at her. "You know I'm not going anywhere," she murmured. "What's really going on, Gam-Remy? Where did this come from?"

"It's today," he said.

"Today?"

Gambit groaned and shuddered. "A couple years ago, my cousin died, shot. A few years before that, Belladonna and I broke. A few years before that, I blew someone's arm off."

"I'm sorry," she said, still not sure what this had to do with her.

"Bad things happen to me today."

"Are you saying you're cursed one day a year?"

"No," he said, sitting up. He took her face in his hands, rubbing thumbs over her cheekbones. "Today just reminds me of all I lost. And all the ways I can lose you."

Rogue sighed and pulled him closer, Gambit nuzzling into the crook of her neck. "I love you Remy, you have to see that. You're not going to lose me," she said, running hands over his back. "Unless you keep barhopping and getting drunk in the woods, then we might just lose you. If you die in a drunk driving accident, I'll kick your ass so hard…"

Gambit snorted into her neck. "I know, I'm sorry chère."

"I'm serious. Do it again and I'll hurt you."

"I promise," he said.

Rogue yanked him up, wrapping his arm around her shoulder. She dragged him, stumbling, back to the street where Logan was sitting with their motorcycles. They basically tied Gambit to Rogue's waist for the ride back to the mansion, Rogue promising that if he fell asleep she'd go on a sex strike. She also promised, whispering in his ears, "If it still bothers you when you're sober, I'll tell you anything you want."

Rogue tucked Gambit into bed, cuddling next to him. He wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her close. For tonight, she was a glorified teddy bear. She ran her hands over his, fingers running across his longer ones. The vulnerable Gambit, the one who only peeked out at her once in awhile, was clinging to her like she was the last solid thing in the world. Gambit's psyche was suspiciously quiet, scared that if he said anything, he'd reveal that at the moment she was.

**E is for Epinikion (an ode of victory)**

Saying Gambit liked to win is a massive understatement, like saying Wolverine's hair was a little large. Games, bets, and various challenges went up over 200% since Gambit's arrival at the mansion. Eventually, some people became tired of this, the allure faded with time, but Rogue wasn't among them. She was one of the few who could really give him a run for his money. Of course, Storm and Logan could but they frequently didn't care enough to. Rogue, however, also loved to win.

But she wasn't stupid.

"I bet you I can make it from this roof to the next without falling," Gambit said, glancing behind them. They were seated in a rooftop restaurant, surrounded by silk and blinking lights. Rogue didn't even turn her head, keeping her eyes on her menu.

"No shit," she said. "I think I'll have the steak."

Gambit pouted.

"No," she said, still not looking up. "We're going to enjoy dinner for once without you making a bet out of it."

"But chère," he whined.

She glanced up. "We could put money on how many bones I break in your hands if you keep that up."

Gambit grinned, shoving his hand to her. "Okay!"

She sighed and glanced around. "Fine. What do you want to do?"

"Whoever gets the waiter to cry first-"

"No."

"Guess the color of their under-"

"No."

"We could-"

"We are NOT having sex on this table."

"Of course not!" Gambit said, throwing a hand over his heart. "I'd never suggest such a thing…we should have sex UNDER the table."

"And what exactly is that winning?"

"Sex under the table…"

"I'll tell you what. You make it through dinner without any sexual comments and I'll –"

"Flash cars on the way home," Gambit interrupted.

"What are you, 15?" she asked with a laugh. "Fine."

"Bon!"

"You won't make it."

"You doubt me chère? Tsk tsk. I'll make it just fine, thank you."

He didn't make it. He was close, but lost it when the waitress said their specialty dessert was Nipples of Venus.

Eventually small bets and regular poker games weren't enough for him. He branched out to local casinos, but they wised up quickly that he was a great player so that became boring fast. He decided to instigate the first Xavier Institute Olympics.

"Olympics," Storm repeated slowly.

"Oui," Gambit said cheerily. "Healthy competition is good for the soul, no?"

"That's what Danger Room sessions are for," Logan grunted.

"I think you and I have different meanings for the word 'healthy'," Gambit said. Logan glared. "Seriously though. Give the kids a chance to blow off some steam. Points for accuracy with powers for some, subtlety with others, we'll tweak it for some."

Storm smiled slightly. "I think that's perfect for end of the year festivities. It's been a hard year on everyone, maybe this is just what the students need to relax."

Logan grunted.

There were races, an archery style bullseye competition (with powers, of course), capture the flag, and other games for the kids. Each kid was put on a team with a teacher mentor with Logan officiating and not surprisingly, Gambit and Rogue's teams were tied for the lead. The last event was a water balloon tag event, three on three but it was down to two people, one on each time. The first person hit in the body was out.

"Don't be a gentleman!" Gambit said in a passionate whisper. "There's no room for gentleness, splash him!"

"I'm not a gentleman…" Sarah whispered back, puzzled.

"That's right, and don't you forget it!"

Rogue, across the lawn, was hissing to Sam Guthrie. "This is no holds barred, if Gambit wins you will never hear the end of it!"

"He's my teacher," Sam said, confused.

"Exactly! Every time you go to class, he'll remind you that his team won!" Rogue said.

"…So?"

Rogue sighed, exasperated. "Fine, if you win I'll take a month of your garbage chores."

Sam perked up at that. "Yeah, okay!"

Sam and Sarah faced off across the yard. Each had a little bucket of water balloons and weren't allowed to cross the line in the middle of the field. Wolverine yelled "GO!" and they shot off. Sam, living up to his name Cannonball, zoomed around the playing field, trying to disorient Sarah. Sarah dodged around as well, but didn't let Sam overwhelm her. He tried to shoot a water balloon at her while running and it flew way wide, almost hitting Gambit instead. Rogue laughed from the other side of the field as Gambit jumped out of the way.

Sarah splashed one on his left foot, but it wasn't a body shot so no score. Sam zoomed around in a huge figure eight, something Sarah noticed and was aiming, ready to fire where she knew he would be…then he shot to the far left, then right in front of her, and let loose a water balloon right to the chest.

"Yes!" Rogue screamed. She ran and grabbed Sam in a quick hug, and switched to a high five when he squirmed away, whispering something about "gross". Sarah sighed. Gambit put a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"It's okay, petite. Hand to hand you could have taken him," he said with a wink. Sarah grinned back and ran off to grab a water bottle.

There was a little ceremony, the winning team getting little gold metals, the second silver, and third bronze. Rogue looked over to Gambit's team with a smirk and quirked brow. "I think it's time to pay up, Mr. Gambit," she said.

Gambit sighed and walked up to the makeshift podium. He cleared his throat and began to sing. "As anyone can plainly see, Roguey Roo has beaten me. Her wit is sharp, her beauty reigns, she's strong as Wolvie, she is a pain! As anyone can plainly tell, I'm an empty, beaten shell. Rogue has charm, skills and pizzazz, I'm just a wimp from the land of jazz. Rogue's is Team Extraordinaire, if we're all frank, I can't compare." He dropped to his knees in front of her, taking her hand in his, dropping his voice so most of the kids couldn't hear. "Besides this game, which she won quick, Rogue also won my heart and d-"

"OKAY that's enough!" Storm said quickly. "Everyone give team Rogue a hand!" She glared at Gambit, slamming her hands together in an overly violent clap.

Rogue yanked Gambit up by his hand, laughing. She gave him a punch to the arm and shook her head. "You Cajun scoundrel."

Gambit grinned, pulling her to his side. "Don't ever forget it." He kissed her chastely, being chastised from Storm recently for going a little overboard on the PDA in front of the kids. "Congratulations chère…we'll get you next year."


	6. F is for Fiji

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is jumping a little backwards to after C is for Control, this is the trip to Fiji Gambit promised her. This chapter rated T…maybe teetering on M…

Gambit was never really one for vacations. Usually when he traveled, it was all for business. He didn't sight see, unless you counted scouting out job locations. He knew where all of the high stakes poker games were held throughout Western Europe, both Americas, and most of Africa, but that wasn't really vacation, more like a night off. It wasn't about relaxing, that was impossible when you have to be always on guard, thieving hands at the ready. While he'd always been a fan of the adrenaline rush, it wasn't a vacation.

Rogue had taken a few family vacations as a kid. An uncle had a river house when she was a kid and her family frequently visited over summers. Her summers were all sunscreen and aloe vera and splashing in the water. She had a cousin that visited too, but once he drowned after swimming too far out, Rogue's family stopped visiting. They'd gone camping once, to a theme park a few times, though the last trip they took had been to New Orleans for a jazz festival. She'd been pissed to find her wallet had been stolen. Her mutation manifested two weeks later and her parents kicked her out.

Like Gambit promised, when Rogue gained control of her skin, he whisked her away to Fiji. He'd expected to have to fight Storm for the time off but she'd merely said, "Try not to steal any national treasures."

"Oh Stormy, would I do that?"

"I'll call a monsoon," she warned.

"Rogue would kick your weather-witchy ass."

The X-Men offered to drop them off in the jet, but Rogue had brushed that aside, saying it was a waste of money and what would happen if they were needed? As soon as they got to the airport, she desperately wished she'd been more selfish. Intellectually, she knew she didn't have to worry about crowds now that her skin wasn't dangerous, but it was hard to erase years of anxiety. When Gambit tried to grab her hand, she'd gently pulled away, giving him an apologetic look. He just smiled in understanding and followed her in to the security line.

Flying with Rogue was an interesting experience. Rogue spent the first five minutes of the flight frowning and crushing the bones in Gambit's hand. Then, she abruptly released him and relaxed with a content sigh, staring out the window.

"Uh, chère?"

"Yeah?"

"You want to let me know what just happened?" he asked, eyebrow quirked.

"What? Oh! Logan doesn't like to fly," she said with a smirk. "It takes me a little bit to calm his psyche down. He's a loud guy. It doesn't help that your psyche likes to poke at him with spoons."

"How do you do that?"

"I rub his back," Rogue said. Gambit snorted. The next time they were on a mission in the blackbird, Gambit rubbed circles on Logan's back and sang him a lullaby. Logan almost broke the smaller man's arm.

As Gambit had promised, his family's property was a huge, sprawling estate on a small, private island. When Rogue had asked why, he'd replied, "We're thieves, chère. We like our privacy."

Rogue had been worried that she and Gambit would be bored with nothing to do, especially since at the mansion neither one of them were ever standing still, but she quickly learned she was quite happy to lounge on the beach with a drink. Gambit put a few chairs in the water so they could sit in the sun with the water tickling their calves. Rogue felt strongly that they were living in a Corona commercial.

That is, when they actually left the estate. The bedroom was draped in golds and rich burgundy, though that wasn't the only appealing factor. Rogue was experiencing her first taste of inhibition-free touch and she was taking full advantage. Gambit, who'd always been able to express his touchy feely side and had overall taken it for granted, was exploring a whole new Rogue with a sense of unadulterated joy. He knew how to push her buttons, had since the first few times they'd been together, but watching her writhe under his hands, inhibitions and cares forgotten, was exhilarating.

Running his finger tips from her toes, up her toned calves, to her thighs, hips, torso, leaving a trail of goosebumps in its wake, he made his way up her body. A hand running through and grapsing in her hair earned a gasp. Her eyes rolled back when his hand brushed under the band of her panties, stroking the soft skin so close to where she wanted him most. Her breath was shallow, muscles spasming, legs thrashing as she lost control, completely and carelessly for the first time.

The changes weren't limited to the bedroom, though Gambit definitely enjoyed that. Rogue walked around in a bikini, sarong loosely hanging from her waist, and when Gambit walked behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist, she only tensed for a half second before relaxing into him. As the days stretched into a week, he could walk by her while she was reading and run a finger across her bare shoulders with little reaction at all, until finally she didn't even look up.

Two days before they were set to fly out, and after a rather raucous sex in the sand session, the two of them fell asleep, Rogue's head resting on Gambit's stomach. They were awoken hours later by the crisp seawater lapping at their toes. Rogue jumped up and Gambit groaned, refusing to stand quite yet. It was dusk, just enough light to see their way back to the estate but the sun was definitely gone. She looked down to ask Gambit what their plans for the night were and exploded into laughter.

"What?" he asked, standing to shake the sand out from those awkward places where sand seems to cling.

"How's this feel?" she asked, giving his side a smack.

"Ow! What the-?" Gambit groaned looking down, a deep red sunburn covering his chest and arms…except for a circle on the stomach where Rogue's head had been. Rogue herself was laughing hysterically until Gambit poked her in the side of her quite sunburned face. "Oh, funny is it?"

"Oh god," Rogue muttered, touching both sides of her face. The left was distinctly redder than the right which was its previous color, lightly tan.

"I can hide mine," Gambit said with a grin. "Good luck with that Cruella DeVille style face."

Rogue kicked sand at him, but he just grabbed her ankle, yanking her in close to him by her leg. He winced only slightly as her hands hit his burned chest. They were nose to nose, the wind whipping her long hair around them. He leaned in, nose brushing hers…when she hooked her free ankle around his leg, tumbling them both to the ground. Rogue got the best of Gambit, landing on top, legs on either side of him, pinning him down.

"If you wanted to be on top all you had to do is ask," Gambit said with a smirk, grinding his pelvis into hers. Rogue rolled her eyes, which was when he grabbed her and tried to flip them over. Noses were elbowed, jaws were hit, backs were bent, only when Rogue slapped him in the sunburn did Gambit finally concede. They staggered back to the estate to shower and slather each other in aloe vera. The smell brought Rogue right back to the swimming summers with her family when they still loved her.

When they flew back, the ticket agent smirked at their sunburn but wisely said nothing, likely getting many tourists with similar situations. The receiving agents in New York weren't nearly as subtle, their loud coughs sounding suspiciously like laughs. Jubilee gasped when she and Kitty met the couple outside the airport. Kitty elbowed her in the ribs and Jubilee cleared her throat.

"Uhm, have a good time?" she asked mildly.

"Yes, we did," Gambit said pleasantly.

"I see we got some sun, did we?" she asked with a smirk. Kitty sighed and covered her face with her hand.

"We're actually big Cardinals fans," Gambit said seriously. "There's a game one tonight, we needed to show our support."

"You're sunburned…"

"We're committed."

"So other than that," Jubilee went on, completely unsatisfied with their lack of reaction, "how was that whole sex on a romantic island thing?"

"Jubes," Rogue said warningly.

"What? You're living out one of my fantasies! You're living the fantasy of every woman in America!"

"I know, I'm an impressive catch," Gambit said.

"I'm not saying anything about sex on the beach unless it's the drink," Rogue said. Jubilee groaned. "I did kick his ass on the beach, though."

"True Rogue-style," Kitty said sagely.

"Wait 'til everyone sees your faces!" Jubilee said gleefully.

"I'm going to punch you in the sternum."


	7. G is for Gambling

January was a busy month at the mansion. New classes were starting, holidays were winding down, and everyone was trying to get back in the swing of things. For some reason, the students had a particularly hard time settling into the New Year. The hectic nature of the month made it hard for the teachers to have any time to breathe, so two weeks into the start of term, Storm let Jubilee organize a little movie night for the staff. And since it was Jubilee, there were bags of chips, candy, plenty of pop, and the movie had tons of Heath Ledger.

"A Knight's Tale, Jubilee? Again?" Kitty asked, settling into a soft chair.

"What? This movie is hilarious!"

"We know," Bobby said from his spot on the floor (which Jubilee had stacked with pillows). "It's just that you tend to watch it a lot."

"Yeah but not with all of you together," she answered with a smile.

Gambit and Rogue were the last to arrive along with a reluctant Logan who'd only come at Storm's insistence. Gambit settled down on to the couch while Rogue snagged them a bag of M&Ms. She sank into the pillows at Gambit's feet and leaned against his legs. Gambit ran his hand across her shoulders before settling back to watch the movie. It wasn't his usual type of movie but it wasn't bad, and Jubliee had been right, they all could use a break.

When they got to the part of the movie when Chaucer was naked after his losing his clothes due to his gambling problem, all eyes turned to Gambit.

"Have we found a distant relative of yours?" Jubilee asked.

"Hey, I've never gambled away my clothes," he said, putting his hands up in mock surrender.

"Plus," Rogue said, leaning back to look at him, "he looks much better naked."

There was a growl from Logan. Storm put a placating hand on his arm. Jubilee waggled her eyebrows and said, "I bet."

Gambit snorted.

"So what is the most you've lost?" Kitty asked.

"Obscene amounts of money. A few hits."

"Hits?"

"Oui, mon frère Henri and I used to wager chores and slaps when we were kids and didn't have any money. Whoever won got to slap the loser. Those were some hard losses, not that they happened often," Gambit said. More laughter.

They got back into the movie for a few hours until the redheaded character, Wat, started yelling at Chaucer, "I'm going to lose everything!"

"That's why it's called gambling," the cheeky Chaucer answered before getting tackled by the other man.

Eyes turned to Gambit again, who shook his head dramatically. "Those amateurs," he said with a sigh.

"How so?" Kitty asked.

"Simple, chaton," Gambit said. "You never bet gamble with more than you're willing to lose."

"Hm, makes sense."

The movie wrapped up, the guy got the girl, history was poked fun at, and even Logan felt a little more relaxed after a night of no responsibility.

Gambit stretched and grabbed Rogue's hand, pulling her to her feet. She leaned in and kissed him lightly, smiling against his lips. "We staying in your room tonight or mine, sugar?" she asked.

He ran his hands down her back, linking them around her waist. "Wherever you want, chère."

They ended up in Gambit's room, undressing and crawling into bed. After making her moan his name several times, they slipped into sleep.

Gambit's point that night did make sense. Once Rogue thought about it, she'd never seen Gambit too upset about losing any kind of bet. He gambled, often, and he was ridiculously good at it. She knew it was because of how easily he read people, automatically noticing their little ticks and habits. A good thief needed to know as much about their client and target as possible. And she'd seen him make some outlandish bets. A priceless rare painting, cars, motorcycles, a plane, Super Bowl tickets (why he had them, she didn't know, probably another poker game), and once even the phone number of a supermodel. No matter what the game, poker, pool, even random bets (he'd once started a betting pool around who would win on American Idol. Rogue told him she'd only lost a little bit of respect for him), she rarely saw him lose. When he did, even when he lost the Super Bowl tickets, it was always with a shrug and a smile, asking when the next hand would be dealt.

He'd told her that everyone has a tell. Everyone. Some are better at hiding it than others, but it's there. It can take awhile to find, and that's where the danger lies. He wouldn't tell her what hers was until she guessed. She started throwing in random actions to confuse him during games, which he found adorable. It managed to throw off the mansion's other residents though.

At first, she was worried he had no boundaries. A few months into their relationship, he took her to his favorite casino in Vegas, decked out in black tie and her in an obscenely expensive dress at his back at an exclusive game. She very much felt like she was living in Casino Royale. The first hand was slow, everyone getting a feel for their opponents' playing styles, then they started getting a little more aggressive. Finally, Gambit cavalierly dropped a $700,000 bet, causing Rogue's hands to twitch around her drink. He was leaning back in his chair, two legs off the ground, like a schoolboy taunting a teacher. He didn't even bat an eye when the man across from him raised the bet to $1,000,000. When Gambit won, Rogue felt the adrenaline that had been seizing her heart for the past five minutes release with a whomp to her gut. Gambit merely added the winnings to his pile with a small smile.

"You're insane," she told him as he cashed out.

"Oui, possibly," he said, giving her a kiss. "But it makes life more interesting, no?"

"You could have lost a million-"

"I don't care," he said, cutting her off.

"You don't," she said, doubtfully.

"Nope." He thanked the casino worker and arranged his winnings. "That's not why I play. I mean, the money helps, but it's not the draw." He wrapped his arm around her waist, pulling her into a secluded corner of the casino among the live trees lining the marble walkway.

"Oh? And what is then?" she asked, sidling her body into his.

"The adrenaline," he said, running his hands up from her waist to where her back was exposed thanks to the dress. He ran his fingers up her spine until they wrapped in the hair at the base of her neck. He leaned in and she could feel his breath on her ear as he said, "It's the danger. The edge of not knowing. Of being caught," his fingers dipped to her side, edging at the fabric covering her breast, "in a bluff." And the hand was gone, back on her shoulder. Her heart was beating fast against his chest. "The competition, the skill, getting one up on the other. Showing what a better hand I have, what I can get-" His arm wrapped around her possessively. "-that they can't"

"Oh?" Rogue managed to say, though they both heard the breathiness in her voice. "So the money is just a bonus, hm?" She nudged her nose against his jaw, mouth tantalizingly close to that spot on his neck she knew he loved so much.

"Something like that." She shivered at the way his voice rumbled through her and his hand gripped tighter against her skin. His head dipped lower, his lips touching her skin when he spoke. "As soon I get you up to our room, I'll be ripping that dress off of you. At least with the cash, I can replace it. And whatever you're wearing under it."

Rogue breathed out a little gasp and throatily answered, "And if I'm wearing nothing under it?"

Gambit grabbed her hand and half dragged her to the elevator. It was a miracle they even made it back to their suite. Rogue stopped worrying about his motivations in gambling after that.

A few weeks after Jubilee's movie night, the school had finally settled down into a routine. Classes were in full swing. Gambit and Rogue were resuming teaching, Rogue had a few self defense classes and was assisting Logan in auto shop while Gambit taught French. He was irritated at having to actually follow lesson plans, but Storm insisted the students learn standard French taught in curriculum, not his slang-ridden New Orleans dialect. Because of this, and Rogue amping up her combat class, they both needed extra time to plan. They ended up awake late into the weekends, holed up in Gambit's room with lesson plans and notebooks. They were taking a rare break on a Saturday night by sitting in the kitchen and digging into a stash of cookie dough when Storm ran in, her normally calm demeanor cracking around the edges. Gambit took in her wide eyes and clenched hands and immediately jumped off the counter.

"What is it?"

"There's been an attack a mutant support group at Trinity Community Church," she said. "A series of stabbings. One fatality so far, the attacker escaped into the sewer system with a hostage."

Gambit's jaw ground a little tighter at the mention of mutants in the sewers, hoping Rogue didn't notice. Damn he wished he hadn't taught her to be observant of tells.

"Do the police know?" Rogue asked.

Storm shook her tousled hair. "We were contacted by the group directly. They know there was a stabbing but not the abduction."

"Why?"

"They were afraid the cops might not use…discretion in tracking the suspect, putting the mutant in the line of fire," Storm said quickly. "I'll explain more as we go, come on." She ushered them out of the kitchen and through the halls until they arrived at the garage where Jubilee was waiting in one of the school Jeeps.

"Is it just us?" Rogue asked as she and Gambit climbed into the back.

"Yes," Storm answered shortly. She started the Jeep and hit the gas, zooming out of the garage. "Logan is on another soul-searching weekend in the mountains, Kitty is sick, Hank's at a conference, and who knows where Bobby goes."

Rogue and Gambit shared a brief look at her tone. They knew Storm was having trouble with the staffing but they'd never seen quite how much of a problem it was. They'd blamed the recent grey skies on usual February weather. Rogue made a mental note to talk to Logan about, as Storm put it, his soul-searching hikes.

"When's Pete coming back from Russia?" Jubliee asked.

"Yesterday supposedly," Storm said, taking a corner so fast that Gambit's head almost went through his window. Jubilee wisely kept her mouth shut after that, for what Rogue could only assume was the first time. Storm pulled over near a sewer access port about a mile from where the cops were gathered with the ambulances and survivors. She paired up with Jubilee and sent Rogue and Gambit in the opposite direction, hoping one of the groups would catch the kidnapper.

It was hard to make little noise in such a wet environment but somehow Gambit managed. Rogue felt a bit like a child stumbling through the dark, but she did her best to follow Gambit, relying on his excellent night vision. From behind him, she could see the tension in his shoulders that had been riding him since Storm mentioned the sewers. He tried to play it off, but as smooth as the Cajun was, she just knew him too well. She thought about bringing it up later, but knew with him, sometimes it was best to let him come to her.

A half hour into their search, Gambit threw a hand back, signaling her to stop. She strained her ears, trying to hear what he did and sure enough, a slight ringing of voices. Rogue had no idea where they were coming from, the stone pipes created such a huge echo, but Gambit pointed left and so they crept on. Rogue tapped her communicator and whispered the junction where they were to Storm.

The farther they went, the louder the voices became until Gambit was sure they were around the next corner. There was the sound of loud, choking sobs and another voice yelling over them "-think I wouldn't notice? That I would find you? Pathetic piece of-"

Rogue and Gambit frowned at each other, both thinking the same thing; this didn't sound at all like the random kidnapping Storm's contact had reported. The splash of footsteps drew farther away but the sobbing continued. Gambit warily peeked around the corner to see a huge junction with pipes going in every direction and a huge area for sewer workers. No one was in sight but an alien-eyed looking woman covered in filth and tied up in a corner. Gambit signaled Rogue and they slipped into the room, Gambit heading for the mutant and Rogue making sure no one was coming up any of the pipes. The mutant scrambled away in fear as soon as Gambit came into view.

"Whoa whoa there, petite. I'm not gonna hurt you. My name's Gambit, what's yours?" A disturbing feeling of déjà vu flooded him, but he pushed it aside.

"Maria," she whispered, eyes still darting around.

"Okay Maria, it's nice to meet you. Did he say where he was going?" Maria violently shook her head, short black hair swinging around her pixie-like face. "Okay, well let's get going before he gets back okay? We'll get you some place safe." She gasped when Gambit gave her ropes a light charge, gently breaking the bonds. He helped her to her feet and asked, "Who is he? Do you know?"

"He's-"

"I'm her boyfriend," came the cruel voice Gambit had heard earlier. Gambit pushed Maria behind him and spun to face the man. He was huge, easily as large as Sabertooth with muscles bulging in ungodly places. If he didn't have mutated super strength, Gambit would eat his deck of cards. A shadow moved behind him and Gambit fought to keep his eyes on the huge mutant, not on Rogue sneaking up behind him. Thanks to a touch from Gambit earlier, she was now equipped with his abilities. She had nothing in her pocket but her cell phone and with only slight irritation, she charged it and sent it into the man's head.

The instant the magenta flash lit up the room and the huge man roared in pain, Gambit was moving. He pulled the shocked Maria to the sewer tunnel he and Rogue had emerged from and sent her down it, promising she would meet two women on the way. There were grunts and sounds of a fight from behind him and when he turned around, the man had Rogue pinned by her neck to the stone wall. Rogue was gasping slightly, but the man wasn't squeezing hard enough to kill. Not yet.

Gambit had a charged card in his hand already, heading towards the man who shook his head. "Nuh uh. One step more and your girlfriend loses a windpipe."

Gambit glared, weighing his options. He could hit him from this distance, he knew he could. Perfectly too, but there was still the slight chance he could singe Rogue. And he hadn't seen the man move, what if strength wasn't all? What if he could crush Rogue's throat before Gambit's card hit him? The man shook Rogue by the throat for emphasis and Rogue let out a strangled gasp when her feet left the floor. Gambit growled and decharged the card, letting it flutter to the floor at his feet.

The tower of a man nodded and jerked Rogue in front of him like a human shield and backed toward a pipe opening. Gambit helplessly watched as Rogue scrambled for anything to charge at all, but besides her clothes, she had nothing. "I'm going to go, and take this little one along as security. You take my lady, I take yours." Gambit took a step forward. "Nuh uh! I even think you're following me, I snap this neck."

Gambit's hand itched to be on his bo staff, so close at his hip but unable to be grabbed. It was pure, blind luck that the huge man had no sense of his surroundings. He stumbled a bit at the lip of the pipe behind him and for a half second loosened his grip on Rogue's throat. She took advantage of this small distraction, whirling out of his hand and landing a vicious blow to his throat, then sternum, then kicked out his knee cap. He collapsed, writhing in agony until Gambit ran up and whacked him on the head with his bo staff, knocking the man out.

Storm and Jubilee helped the frightened Maria out of the sewers, giving her the address of a mutant shelter, while Gambit and Rogue bound the unconscious mutant to a pipe. After they cleared out, they left an anonymous tip to the police that they could find the assailant there. Later on the news, the police department was given great accolades for finding the dangerous murderer in a local mutant stabbing.

Gambit held Rogue a little tighter that night, clutching the woman he almost had to live without closer to his chest. He breathed her in like she was air, wrapping himself in the sweet pomegranate smell of her shampoo mixed with the natural scent of her that to him made up the most intoxicating perfume he'd ever encountered. Rogue drew small patterns on his skin, ghosting her fingertips across his chest.

"Can I ask you something?" she asked, turning her head up to meet his eyes.

He kissed her forehead before answering, "Of course mon amour, anything."

"I thought you had a shot at him in sewers, before you dropped the card," she said, running her hand along his jaw line.

"I did," Gambit agreed. "It was close though. I wasn't sure if I could get it and not hit you."

"I know, I'm not upset or anything," Rogue said, kissing his jaw for emphasis. "I'm just curious…why didn't you take it? You've hit smaller things more times than I can count."

Gambit hummed, eyes furrowed, searching for the right words for his answer. He ran his hands up Rogue's back before cupping her face, staring at her. "That would mean risking you," he finally said. "Something I can't do."

Rogue smiled under the feel of his touch. He leaned in lips brushing hers before speaking again.

"I have a rule chère. I never gamble more than I'm willing to lose."


	8. H is for Hero

Gambit was well aware that he was an extremely selfish man. He stole for a living, taking from others, to enhance his own life. He'd had sex with a bunch of women because he wanted to. Even his relationship with Rogue, the most meaningful thing in his life, was based on his selfish desire not to have to live without her. Causing her joy made him happy, so even that was selfish on his part. Not that he was heartbroken over it, it was just who he was. Everyone was selfish to a degree, Gambit was just more aware of it than most.

Rogue tried to argue this point when she found out about Sarah. A few weeks after Rogue, Gambit, Storm, and Jubilee had rescued a kidnapped mutant from the sewers, Gambit had calmed down from the scare of almost losing Rogue. No matter how many times she told him it wasn't that close, he wouldn't relent until finally, he released to tight grip on her he'd had since they'd returned. It was then that Rogue chose to tentatively broach the subject he'd studiously tried to keep her from noticing.

Rogue had gone to Gambit's room to ask why he'd missed their sparring session only to see him sprawled on the floor next to Sarah, helping her with homework for her science class. She smiled, leaning against the doorway and listening to their conversation.

"Only a few more to label," Gambit said, nodding to the diagram of the human body in front of them. Hank was teaching science with Kitty as an assistant so she could sub in if he suddenly had some diplomatic event he had to attend. It was Kitty's idea to make the diagram homework a coloring assignment too, insisting that if she had been able to color the body, she'd have paid a lot more attention. So far Sarah had all the major organs completed and most of the muscle groups.

"So the biggest things left are the arteries and veins," Sarah said. She frowned, holding the red and blue colored pencils. "I can never remember which go to the heart and which go away…I'm supposed to color code them."

"Want to know the trick I used to remember them?" Gambit asked. Rogue cocked her head. Whenever Gambit mentioned his schooling, it was usually about the things he learned about thieving. She knew the guild educated, she never really thought biology was high on the list though.

"Yeah," Sarah said, eyes rapt.

"Well arteries take blood away from the heart," Gambit said. "Artery and away both start with the letter 'a'."

"Arteries away," Sarah repeated like a mantra. "So arteries are red, right? Because they got their oxygen from the heart?"

"Oui!" Gambit said. "Good job, petite."

"Thanks, I think I can get the rest," Sarah said, gathering her things. She looked up, seeing Rogue in the doorway. "Hey Ms. Rogue!"

"Hi Sarah," Rogue said with a smile. "Gambit being helpful?"

"Yeah," she said. She was always very nice to Rogue, she just didn't talk nearly as much to anyone as she did to Gambit. She turned to him. "I'll see you later, bye." And with that she left, piles of schoolwork under her arms.

"Hello there, chère," Gambit said, walking over to Rogue and kissing her on the nose. "What have you been up to tonight?"

"Well I was going to kick my boyfriend's ass," she said, holding up her gym bag. Comprehension dawned on Gambit's face. "But he was too busy being wrapped around a certain little mutant's finger." Rogue was smiling.

"Désolé, I completely forgot," Gambit said.

"It's okay, you were too busy being completely adorable, I understand," Rogue teased.

"I'm always adorable."

"Always," Rogue agreed. She closed the door behind her and walked farther into the room, taking a seat on Gambit's bed. "I need to ask you something."

Gambit sat next to her, legs up on the bed. "Of course. What's on your mind?"

"I wanted to ask you about Sarah."

Gambit instantly slipped into his poker face. Unfortunately, now that Rogue knew his poker face, all that did was prove he was uncomfortable. "What about her?"

"I wasn't sure if I should ask since Sarah's gotten so much better since you've been here," she said delicately. "But, how do you know her?"

Gambit's careful face didn't slip. "What makes you think I know her from anywhere but the school?"

"Remy," Rogue said, slightly exasperated. "Because I know you."

"You don't know what you're talking about," Gambit said coldly. He stood and walked to the door.

"Whoa, wait a hot second," Rogue said, standing. "I'm just trying to talk, why are you being such an ass? Remy, you can tell me anything."

"What, you want my whole story life now? Didn't get enough all the times you sucked my memories out of me?" Gambit snapped.

Rogue jerked back like he'd slapped her, mouth opening. Gambit just had time to register the shock and hurt of her face before slamming the door, leaving Rogue alone in his room. She stood for a moment, completely confused. She'd thought they were just talking, she had no idea how things changed so quickly. Gambit had never yelled at her like that, never. It was always her losing her cool and screaming. And what he'd said, using almost the exact words she'd used when she'd told him her most horrifying fear regarding her mutation. That she was a leech. A parasite.

She forced her face into a mask of indifference on the way to her room. It wouldn't do for anything to see her cry. She slammed the door behind her, locking it. It was a few hours early, but Rogue went about getting ready for bed, stripping into the tank top and panties she'd taken to wearing to bed once she got control of her skin. Crawling beneath the sheets, she willed herself to be tired. When Gambit wanted to grow up, he knew where she'd be.

The next day was a Saturday. She didn't know where he was, but Rogue didn't see Gambit all day. She spent the day helping with minor repairs on the blackbird. By the time everyone was eating dinner, she was swinging between being irritated and worrying if he was okay. Then she'd shake herself, knowing Gambit was more than capable of taking care of himself. But what if something happened…then she started worrying and the cycle started all over again. Rogue groaned and left without finishing all her food.

She was walking down the teachers' hallway when she crashed into Sarah. She grabbed Sarah quickly to keep the smaller girl from falling. "Whoa there, you okay?"

"Yeah," Sarah said, nodding. "I was just looking for Remy, but he's not here."

"Ah," Rogue said awkwardly.

Sarah didn't seem to notice. "He wasn't in his room though, do you know where he is?"

"Uh, no," Rogue said. "I haven't seen him today."

"Oh," Sarah said. She fidgeted for a minute before asking, "Uh, are you two mad at each other?"

"Why would you think that?" Rogue asked, too surprised to deny it.

"I saw him leave last night and he looked upset," Sarah said with a shrug. "I don't know what else matters to him enough to make him upset."

"I see," Rogue said. There was just a little too much knowledge in that little girl's eyes, especially for her age. Like many kids at Xavier's, she'd had to grow up too soon. "We just had a little argument."

"Oh," Sarah said. She shuffled her feet a little. Rogue didn't pressure her, she knew if Sarah wanted to get something out, the easiest way was to wait rather than push. "Remy's not bad, he's actually really nice. He…he saved me, did you know?"

"No," Rogue said. She squatted down until she was closer to eye level with the young girl. "Do you want to tell me about it?"

Sarah didn't look at Rogue as she spoke, instead staring at a stain on the carpet. "I was living with a bunch of people who were mutants like me."

"What do you mean?" Rogue asked. "We're all mutants like you."

"No you're not," Sarah said. "People aren't scared the second they look at you. You aren't afraid to walk outside because someone might try to throw rocks at you, or punch you, or hit you with their car." Rogue frowned, unsure what to say to that. Sarah misread her silence as anger and started talking really fast. "I didn't mean it like you don't have a hard time, too! I just mean, I meant, I-"

"It's okay Sarah," Rogue said gently, placing a hand on the girl's shoulder. "I know what you meant, sweetheart."

"Oh," Sarah said. "We just lived together because it was safer. Remy saved me when the bad ones came."

"The bad ones?" Rogue asked gently.

Sarah nodded. "They killed us."

Rogue's heart was breaking for the girl. Sarah's attitude made so much more sense now. Sarah had been here for years but never opened up as the other kids had, she made friends but never solidly put down roots. She always acted as if any second, she'd need to leave. "I'm so sorry, Sarah."

"Remy saved my life. So if you're mad at him, maybe remember he does do nice things, too?" Sarah suggested meekly.

Rogue smiled, eyes watering. She slowly, as Sarah didn't like sudden movements, pulled the girl into a hug. Sarah didn't stiffen, but she didn't really react either, as if she wasn't exactly sure what to do. "He's a very nice man, you're right," Rogue said. "Don't you worry, I know he is." She let Sarah go.

"Okay," Sarah said. "Well uh, I have homework, so, bye." With that, she walked very quickly down the hall and out of sight.

Rogue returned to her room and sighed, sitting down. She felt horrible for Sarah, but still didn't understand Gambit's reaction to her question the previous day. She could see how he'd want to keep Sarah's past a secret, especially if it was painful to her, but the harsh and livid reaction he'd had? That still confused her.

Rogue crawled into bed that night and decided to try to talk to Gambit again tomorrow. Not pushing for an answer, though she was curious, but at least speak to him. Fighting like this wasn't like them, usually it was a few hours of anger, tops, then they'd laugh at their stupidity and get over it. Over a day of not speaking was beyond bizarre. She fell asleep uneasily, finally drifting off just as it started to rain.

A few hours later, Rogue groggily woke up, cursing that giant glass of water she'd had with dinner. She stumbled into the bathroom and out again with barely opened eyes. She sat on her bed with a groan before even seeing the outline of a man sitting in a chair on the other side of her room. She jumped back, grabbing the lamp from her bedside table before realizing it was just Gambit.

"Shit," she hissed, dropping the lamp back down to the nightstand. "Remy, what the hell?" She focused on calming herself and felt the adrenaline started to subside.

"Désolé," he said softly, not making a move to leave the chair. Rogue slumped onto her bed and rubbed the remainder of sleep from her eyes. She didn't speak, instead waiting for him to make the first move. He'd come here, she'd be damned if she was going to do all the talking. Finally, Gambit sighed and leaned forward, elbows resting on his knees. "I shouldn't have said what I did. About your mutation. I don't really believe that."

"I know," Rogue said. He wasn't sure which statement she was agreeing with, but both were correct so he didn't fight it.

"It's…not something in my life that I've discussed. Ever," Gambit said. In the darkness, Rogue could only see his outline enough to know he was staring at the ground. Rogue didn't say anything, just let him speak. "I told you about Sinister, yes?"

"A little," Rogue said quietly. "You said he did something to help you get control."

Gambit snorted roughly. "Helped is too nice a term. Try mad scientist brain surgery."

"What?" Rogue asked, unable to hold back her horror.

"In exchange for his sadistic surgery, I owed him. He cashed in," Gambit said. Once he started talking, it was hard to stop, as if he'd built this dam to hide everything behind and now it had burst. "There was a group in the sewers that he wanted to find, something about recruiting them and he asked me to find them. I swear to god, I didn't know chère, I didn't know what they planned."

It took Rogue a few seconds to realize that Gambit was shaking from physically trying to stop the sobs that were threatening to wrack his body. She slid off the bed and slowly made her way over. Kneeling between his knees, she took his hands in hers.

"I just led them," Gambit said. "Then they just started killing them all. I don't even know why, just killing them. I found Sarah hiding but she was hurt. She was the only one I got out, by the time I got back, everyone was dead."

"Remy…"

"I don't deserve your sympathy," Gambit said, trying to jerk his hands free of hers, but she held fast.

"Remy, it wasn't your fault!"

"I got involved with him, I sought him out! That is on me!"

"Stop it!" Rogue said. Gambit's anger deflated and he sagged forward into her arms.

"It's on me."

"You're her hero," Rogue whispered, running her hands through his hair. She just then noticed he was dripping wet. He'd probably been out in the storm.

Gambit made a disgusted noise. "Been called a lot of things, never that."

"Remy," Rogue said, forcing him to face her. "You waded into a bloody war zone to get that girl out. Why? If you were such a terrible person, you wouldn't care if some kid got killed, your debt would be paid and you'd be on your way. That fact that it kills you shows just how good you are. If you were evil, you wouldn't care even a little bit." Gambit shrugged. Rogue stood with a sigh and pulled him up. "Go take a hot shower, you're freezing."

It scared Rogue that he didn't even make a comment about her joining him. Ten minutes later he emerged from her bathroom and crawled into bed with her. Rogue wrapped her arms around him and pulled him close, refusing to have even an inch of space between them. When he started to drift off, he mumbled, "I don't deserve you."

Gambit recovered himself well the next day. He was back to his usual charm and exuberance, but Rogue was watching him a bit more. The self loathing was frightening to her, as she had a lot of experience in that area. She knew exactly how much it could consume you. To all the world, he seemed fine, but his intensity on missions now made much more sense. His goal was atonement.

Weeks later, Gambit and Rogue were enjoying the rare day off, walking through a small park when the screams started. Without even needing to look at each other, they took off toward to shouts. In the center of the park was a play area for kids, complete with jungle gyms. A mother was hysterically crying, clutching her son to her while another woman was screaming and chasing someone across the grass. Whoever was running had a huge head start.

Rogue went to the crying mother while Gambit chased after the running woman. When he finally got close to her, he could hear her screaming, "Stop! Give me my daughter! Jessica!" Gambit's eyes narrowed and he surged past her, towards what he could now see was a man running with a small child in his arms. Now he could hear the little girl screaming and see her flailing in the man's arms.

"Hey!" Gambit yelled when he was right behind him. The man spun in surprise and the girl, who couldn't have been more than eight, bit the hand over her mouth as hard as she could. Her kidnapper jerked back in pain and Gambit made his move. He leapt forehead, latching his arms around the girl and spinning her away from the man and his now bleeding hand. Rogue appeared over shoulder, sending a kick to the kidnapper's temple. He crumpled to the ground, unconscious. The girl's mother ran up, tears running down her face, and pulled her daughter to her.

"Thank you, thank you!" she sobbed, hugging her daughter.

"It's no problem at all," Rogue said. A crowd gathered around the woman and sirens started wailing in the distance. Rogue and Gambit retreated away from everyone, letting the police deal with the would-be kidnapper. They jogged back to their car and started driving to the café where they'd planned lunch, though the mood wasn't quite as relaxed as before.

"Remy," she said when he'd parked the car.

"Hm?" he said, taking off his seatbelt.

"You just did a great thing. You saved her life."

"It was nothing," Gambit said with a shrug,

"Remy…"

"It's nothing, especially with what I've done."

"Remy!" Rogue said sternly, pulling his hands to her. "How many times must the scoundrel prove himself a hero before he believes it?"

Gambit looked down at their interlocked hands and was silent for a moment before kissing her and getting out of the car. Rogue followed him into the café. Maybe he wasn't completely accepting of who he was now, but at least she had faith now that he was getting there.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "How many times must the scoundrel…" quote was from the nineties cartoon X-Men series, Xavier said it to Gambit.


	9. I is for Injury

Gambit and Rogue had a protocol for when one of them was injured. It was the result of over ten months of trial and error, which is a mild way to describe their frantic and frenzied behavior whenever they thought the other was hurt. After semi-regular panic attacks concerning each other, they finally figured out a way to deal with the horrible, sinking feeling of the other being harmed. Kind of.

The first time Gambit saw Rogue injured, it wasn't even in a battle. She was assisting Logan with his advanced auto shop class when a kid let a pneumatic rivet gun get away from him. A rivet didn't end up in her leg, but it did take a huge chunk out of her thigh. Logan had dismissed the class with a glare at the ashen-faced boy, and carried Rogue to Hank in the medlab. Thanks to the mansion's unwritten gossip-is-wildfire policy, Gambit knew within ten minutes what had happened. He'd burst into the infirmary, a small miracle in itself, to see Rogue's right leg gushing blood onto the floor. Hank was trying to clean the wound as much as he could with Logan standing by the side, ready to give his healing factor at a second's notice.

Gambit took in the scene, Rogue gritting her teeth while Hank worked on her thigh. "Rogue!" Gambit yelled and tried to fling himself over Logan to get to her. Logan yanked him back and had to hold him in a bear hug to keep the younger man from jumping her. Rogue smiled faintly at him, and then shuddered as Hank worked. "What are you doing? Why aren't you helping her?" he demanded, struggling against the man's unyielding grip.

"I'm going to," Logan grunted, trying to keep the Cajun from squirming away. "Hank wanted to clean up the wound first."

"Why?" Gambit was more panicked than he could remember being in years. Rogue was bleeding all over the floor, they weren't stopping it. What if something went wrong? What if she couldn't turn her mutation on? What if she passed out, it was passive in her sleep since she gained control. His heart was beating hard enough that he was sure Logan could hear it, probably even feel it.

"Just in case," Hank said calmly, "when Logan's healing factor wears off, she develops an infection. We don't know if he affects her immune system against staph or-"

"I get it," Gambit said. He took a deep breath and stopped fighting, willing himself to not interfere. He shrugged out of Logan's grip when it became obvious he wasn't going to launch himself at Rogue. His eyes never left Rogue's face. Her lips were in a tight line, jaw clamped tight to keep herself from making any noise. When Hank pulled the gauze pad off of her leg, Gambit saw why she was struggling. There was a chunk the size of a child's fist missing from her thigh. The blood wasn't pouring out of her anymore, but there was a substantial pool on the ground. "Marie…" he breathed. She met his eyes and tried to smile, but it turned quickly into a grimace when her leg twitched.

"That's as good as it'll get," Hank said. "Logan," he said, gesturing, "whenever you are ready."

Logan stepped around the pool of blood, his nostrils flaring, and offered his hand to Rogue. It was a mark of how much pain she was in that she grasped his hand right away instead of slowly, with forethought. She let out a shuddering gasp and sighed in relief as the hole in her leg started to re-knit itself. She took her hand back and slumped against Logan in relief. She reached out a hand to Gambit who immediately was there, clutching it to his chest.

"Mon chèrie," he whispered, nuzzling her ear.

"I'm okay," she said. "I'm fine." Gambit said nothing, knowing she needed a few minutes to reorient herself after absorbing someone. At the moment, she was digging through Logan's feral instincts and senses. His inner rage that someone dared hurt her, someone he considered to be under his protection. The animal instinct to protect. His worry, and fear. The Remy in her head wasn't helping; he was busy freaking out, spurred on by Logan's reaction.

"You okay, darlin'?" Logan asked after he had recovered.

She nodded. "Thanks Logan. I think I'm just gonna take a nap. That took it out of me," she said. Logan nodded and stood up. "Don't go too hard on the kid, it was an accident. I'm fine."

"If it wasn't you, we'd have a seriously injured person down here," Logan said seriously. "Not everyone has access to a healing factor. He needs to learn to be conscious of safety."

"Don't skewer him."

"I'll try."

Gambit helped her off the table, putting an arm around her waist to steady her. She flat out refused to be carried, so he slowly helped her through the school to her room. "It doesn't hurt," she promised as he helped her into bed. "Good as new. It just took it out of me, you know?"

"I know," he said. "Maybe I just wanted to hold you, hm?"

Rogue grinned and pulled him down next to her. "I'm okay with that."

Rogue hadn't reacted much better when Gambit ended up with a concussion after a particularly nasty mission. It didn't help that Emma, courtesy of Gambit's static shield, couldn't get a read on his mind. "What if he doesn't wake up?" she demanded.

"He will," Emma said indulgently. "Hank already said he was just knocked unconscious."

"But concussions can be dangerous if you're unconscious, right?"

"Medical opinions vary," Emma said vaguely.

"It depends on the severity of the trauma," Hank interrupted, attaching Gambit to all sorts of monitors. "In this case, I'm sure he is fine."

"But what if-"

"Rogue," Emma interrupted, rubbing her temples. "When you project, you project loud enough for all the psyches in your head to be heard. Can you keep it down, please?"

"I'm so sorry if I'm inconveniencing you," she snapped. "You're the super telepath, block me out then."

Emma rolled her eyes at Rogue, who she'd always gotten along with reasonably well, and left. She, of course, knew Rogue was just worried, but Emma had an image to maintain. And that involved not being too sappy.

Rogue paced back and forth in the very small space beside Gambit's bed until Hank offered her a bed. She just gave him a look before resuming her vigil. Eventually she resorted to extreme measures. When Hank wasn't looking, she dipped her fingers in water and flicked the droplets onto his face, hoping to wake him up. When that failed, she tried tickling his feet, something he claimed didn't affect him but she knew he hated. Desperate, she started whispering the dirtiest, most perverted things she could think of into his ear. Nothing. Eventually, she just rested her elbows on the bed, chin in her hands, and stared at his face for any movement. She nodded off a few times, smacking her face into his leg whenever she did. After twelve hours, Hank was seriously considering sedating her, when Gambit stirred.

"Remy!" She was immediately up and grasping his hand.

Remy moaned. "What hit me?" he muttered.

"About half a building," Rogue answered, stroking his hand.

"Feels like it," he mumbled. He peeped and eye open and saw he was in the infirmary. He groaned and closed his eyes harder. Hank quickly gave him the once over and, when Gambit made it very clear he would blow up everything around him, whatever it took to get to his own room, Hank relented and let him go. Rogue helped him to her room, insisting that she wasn't letting him out of her sight until he was feeling better.

"Remy LeBeau if you ever do that to me again, I swear I'll rip your nuts right off," she threatened, crawling in next to him. She hated whenever he was hurt beyond the obvious reasons; it served as a jolt to remind her how much she loved him and how easily he could be snatched away. She held him tighter that night.

They figured that they needed a new system when he and Rogue were both injured in a rally turned riot and they both kept pulling stitches and needing bones reset when they tried to see if the other was okay. After being injured a dozen or so times, Rogue made Gambit a care package to distract him while she was down for the count. It had mad libs, a bottle of candy labeled 'chill pills', and instructions on how to give her a manicure should she be unconscious, among other items. Gambit left a box with a series of frustrating locks that she needed to open to get the 'special treat' inside, his logic being that she could tune up her lock picking skills and be so frustrated she might be worried less. His special treat inside was a picture of him posed shirtless on a bearskin rug, a rose between his teeth. She didn't get the box open until Gambit was thrown across a street and into a telephone pole by a mutant that reacted like someone on PCP when she got angry. She snorted out a laugh, not sure if she was more amused, irritated with the box, or terrified for him. Which was all the point, after all.

They still weren't always great at the whole sticking to the protocol thing, though. Logan spent more than a few hours sitting next to her in silence by Gambit's bed, her borrowing his senses so she could learn the smell of Gambit and hear the changes in his body. Soon, she knew exactly how his breathing changed when he dreamed and the noises he made when he was about to wake. Gambit and Hank spent their fair share of time playing chess in the infirmary next to Rogue. After a few missions, Gambit was actually getting pretty good. The downside was whenever someone mentioned chess outside of the medlab, he was hit for a split second by a burst of pointless anxiety.

"We have to stop doing this," Rogue said, cuddled into Gambit's side after a long, vicious night. Neither of them had any serious injuries, mostly cuts and bruises all over their bodies. They could both tell when they woke up the next morning, their bodies would be stiff. Rogue, noticing every wince in Gambit's body when she shifted against him. stilled against his side, settling in to the memorized beat of his heart. As soon as she was asleep, Gambit ran his hands lightly over her, cataloging every scrape and bump on her body. He sighed. She was right. Every time he saw her limping or sporting a black eye, his heart broke a little. And he knew she felt the same, he'd seen the looks as much as she tried to hide it. He couldn't even imagine what he would do if he lost her. Or if something happened that caused permanent damage to the woman who'd crawled into his heart. For the first time since he'd arrived and became an X-Man, he started seriously wondering how long they could do this. At what point they'd need a change of scenery.


	10. J is for Jubilee

It was easy for people at the mansion to dismiss Jubilee as nothing more than the bubbly, loud firecracker that they saw every day. It was easy to attribute her gossiping to her being nosy, to assume the embarrassing comments she made were because of some love of making people uncomfortable. Or even that she didn't give a flying fuck about respect and was oblivious to social conventions. In Gambit's opinion, those people were ridiculous.

There were, as always, many assumptions flying through the school. One was that it was only Logan who gave Gambit a run for his money in poker. True, he was the biggest challenge by far, but by no means the only one. People usually compared their own personal losses to Gambit's huge pile of winnings and bowed to him as a poker god. They didn't see Jubilee's modest, but significant, pile. Gambit did, because he saw a lot of himself in the younger girl, she just happened to use it differently. She could read people just as well as he could, he just happened to use those skills for illegal activities.

She saw people. He knew it from the first time he met her. How else would she know all that's going on at the school? And she did know everything. From who was dating whom, to everyone's comings and goings, and had a good guess on everyone's deepest secrets. She knew Bobby and Kitty were going to fool around in high school weeks before he cheated on Rogue. She knew about Gambit reworking the school's security when only he and Storm were in on it. She knew more about Rogue than anyone save Gambit. She knew the second Logan and Storm started sleeping together. Next to himself, Gambit would rank her as the most observant person in the mansion.

Jubilee was the first to see Gambit and Rogue's relationship for what it really was. Sure, everyone saw the sexual tension from the second Gambit walked in the front door. They weren't exactly subtle, the looks they gave each other, the amount of time they spent together. They were friends though, for months before they became involved. As soon as it grew into something more, Jubilee knew it. The touches that lasted a little longer than necessary. The lingering looks. The unnecessary brushes when they walked by each other. The times when they just happened to be absent at the same time.

Of course, Logan knew right after she did. He could smell it all over them. Storm of course figured it out not long after; she knew how Gambit acted when he was sleeping with someone. Everyone else had already assumed they were having sex so it wasn't exactly ground breaking news.

Only Jubilee knew the depth of their feelings, though. She'd seen Rogue with Bobby, she'd seen how she acted when she was in puppy love. Jubilee immediately knew Gambit was different. Bobby had dragged Rogue down, made her question herself, filled her with self doubts. Bobby tried to tame the Rogue, capture her and mold her into what he wanted. Gambit was the exact opposite. He opened the Rogue cage and let her run wild. With him, Rogue walked with her head higher, her back straighter. Rogue wasn't the kind of woman who needed a man in her life, but she'd found a man that enhanced her natural strength instead of trying to demolish it. Rogue's smile became a little less forced, her walk held a little more swagger, the woman she was flourishing more under the influence of him. Because of that, Jubilee decided she needed to have a discussion with Gambit.

Jubilee was nothing if not industrious. Gambit taught a few of the better fighters twice a week in Savate, a form of martial arts. Jubilee convinced one of his students to "injure" himself toward to end of the lesson, causing Gambit to stay behind with him. As soon as Jubilee came into the gym, the boy hopped up. "It feels a lot better now, thanks Mr. LeBeau." With that, he was out the door.

Gambit smirked and leaned against the gym's wall, arms crossed. "You know, petite, if you wanted to talk, you could have just said so."

Jubilee shrugged. "Subterfuge is much more fun," she said and made her way into the gym. Gambit admired that about her; when she had something to say, she didn't shuffle her feet or put her hands in her pockets, she went straight to the point. "I need to talk to you about Rogue."

Gambit raised an eyebrow. "I expected a visit from Logan, but not the overprotective papa act from you."

Jubilee snorted. "Logan is a hammer, he knows how to beat problems into submission. He lacks style."

"Couldn't agree more."

"So, since you two started sleeping together-"

"Who said we're sleeping together?" Gambit asked mildly.

Jubilee rolled her eyes. "You're trying that, really? With me? Cute. Anyways, about you two. You weren't here for the whole Bobby thing." She had Gambit's attention now. Rogue had told him about Bobby, of course, and he'd gotten varying stories from the mansion's inhabitants, but he figured Jubilee would have the most accurate version of events, mostly because she was the mansion's walking social encyclopedia. "Bobby…Bobby is my friend. But he wasn't good for her. They weren't good for each other. Bobby still had the mindset of teenager, which is fine, that's what he was. But Rogue had what, half a dozen people running around her head at the time? Over half of who were way old with a whole lot of weird shit under their belts. She wasn't a teenager like he was."

"Bobby wasn't ready," Gambit said. "Makes sense."

"Yeah, well, it didn't go well. You weren't here to see how she acted with him. It was like she was being pressed in from all sides, the dudes in her head and the dude on her arm," Jubilee went on. "It was pretty crappy, really. You could see Rogue in there, but she was kinda fighting for a way out, you know?"

"I do," Gambit said, flashing to the nights when Rogue had troubles pushing back the psyches and remembering who she was. Remembering who Gambit was.

"So do you appreciate now how huge it is for her to act like she does with you?" Jubilee asked. Gambit cocked his head at her. "What, you think just everyone here knows her real name?"

"What makes you think I know it?"

Jubilee rolled her eyes again. "Let me save you some trouble here, stop questioning what I know and this will be a lot easier. My point is, you're like a Rogue-awesomeness booster. She's badass on her own, but you…accentuate it. Help her pop right out of that cage she built." Gambit looked at her in silence, a rare thing. "We both know she cares about you a lot. You can spout 'we're good friends' or 'friends with benefits' bullcookies to me, that's fine, but we both know I know better. I don't know you well enough to say for sure, but my bet is you care for her too. Or else you'd be fucking everyone that wasn't wearing a chastity belt, like Storm warned us. So do me a favor, don't fuck it up, sport." She patted his arm, and turned on her heel, nearly bouncing out of the room.

Gambit stood, staring at the spot she'd been for a few seconds before he thought to move. It was rare for someone to startle him into speechlessness, but then again, Jubilee was a bit of a rarity. Of course, he'd already noticed Rogue cared about him. He was a reasonably intelligent man, and Rogue wasn't exactly quiet about what she thought. No one had approached him like Jubilee had. Logan had, very colorfully, told him to keep his dick out of Rogue. Bobby had just sent him glares. Storm had taken him aside and warned him against leaving a trail of broken hearts, only alluding heavily to Rogue. Everyone who'd talked to him had given him lectures about sex and him being an awful horndog, but Jubilee didn't see him as a sex crazed pervert, she lectured him about feelings. The only person in the entire mansion who'd considered, who was actually convinced, that what he had with Rogue wasn't purely physical. He paid more attention to Jubilee after that. And laughed when people dismissed her as stupid.

No, Jubilee was more than met the eye. She was the only person other than Logan, and eventually Gambit, who knew Rogue's real name. She stumbled on it quite by accident. She and Rogue had been watching late night TV when an ad for Donnie and Marie Osmond's tour came on. Rogue had, very subtly, twitched. Jubilee assumed she just hated the Osmonds. A few months later, more than a year before Gambit came to Xavier's, Jubilee was delivered a letter with a postmark from Mississippi while working mail room duty. She frowned, looking at the name. "Marie D'Ancanto…" she muttered. As part of her role as resident gossip, she needed to know everyone. And she did. Everyone at the school, she knew their names and backstories by heart, except…then the pieces fell into place. "Rogue."

She, for the first time, was a little nervous to talk to her friend. She knew she had to give her the letter, maybe even explain why she knew Marie was her, but she really didn't want to. She knew what had happened to Rogue, how she was treated, and couldn't imagine anyone in Mississippi sending her a letter that could be anything more than destructive. She wished she could just throw it away and pretend it never existed. But damn it, she had morals and just couldn't do that.

After classes that night, Jubilee had gone to Rogue's room. Half of her hoped Rogue wouldn't answer when she knocked, and she realized belatedly that she probably could have just slid the letter under the door and ran for it, when Rogue answered. "Hi?" Rogue asked slowly when Jubilee said nothing.

"Hey, Rogue, uhm, this came today," she said, passing the letter to her friend.

Rogue stilled, running the envelope through her fingers. A frown was playing on her features, her mind a million miles away. It was as if Jubilee wasn't even there. She knew Rogue valued her privacy and turned to leave when her friend spoke. "I wrote to my parents last month," she said, eyes never leaving the envelope in her hands. "I told them everything about me and my mutation. What I knew, what's going on with me, and that I'm safe. I told them to write me at this address if they could answer." Jubilee looked at her, waiting for her to continue. "I-I don't know if I want to see what they said."

"That's your call," Jubilee said. "But you wouldn't have written to them if you didn't want an answer."

"I wanted…I figured if they said they still wanted nothing to do with me, it'd at least be like closure, you know?" she said, fiddling with the edges of the envelope. She seemed to steel herself then and ripped the envelope open. Jubilee could see that the letter was short, probably just a paragraph long. Rogue's eyes flew across it quickly, then her fists clenched, wrinkling the paper until her knuckles were as white as the sheet.

"Rogue?" Jubilee asked softly. She could swear the other girl's eyes were starting to water. Rogue made an anguished and disgusted sound before crumpling the letter into a ball. She held it out to Jubilee, eyes hard.

"Light it up." Jubilee didn't hesitate, throwing the ball into the air and shooting fireworks right at it. The letters fell at their feet, blackened and disintegrating. Jubilee looked at Rogue to see her face crumbling.

"Oh, Rogue," Jubilee said. She threw her arms around her friend, yanking her close. Rogue twisted away, careful of her skin but Jubilee didn't give a damn. She locked an arm around Rogue's back and the other holding her neck in place. Rogue, a little blindsided, wrapped her arms back around Jubilee. She couldn't remember the last time someone besides Logan had hugged her like this. Even Bobby, her boyfriend at the time, hesitated a moment before touching her. Jubilee was having none of that. She pulled her friend into a vice-like grip, letting Rogue shake and cry on her shoulder. She rubbed her friend's back in circles, promising her everything from, "It will be okay," to, "I'll blow them off the planet." It was in that moment that Rogue decided if she had a best friend, it was Jubilee.

Jubilee cemented herself as Gambit and Rogue's favorite person when she started to help them sneak around. Neither one of them were particularly worried about getting "caught," but they did prefer people not to walk in on them. They overheard her, very early on in their relationship, directing people away from their room. "Rogue isn't in there," she said to Storm. "She was working on her bike in the garage."

Two weeks later, they found themselves mysteriously alone in the mansion. While most of the X-Men were out on either missions or errands, Jubilee had been put in charge of afternoon activities and shuffled all of the kids outside, no exceptions. She said Rogue and Gambit had a lot of work to do, and waved jovially, locking the door behind her.

Rogue's favorite was when Bobby was storming around the mansion, looking for his misplaced phone, sure that Gambit had stolen it. He had, but that was beside the point. Rogue and Gambit were under his blankets, breath heavy and hands wandering, when they heard the yelling.

"Where is that cowardly, Cajun motherf-"

"BOBBY." Jubilee happened to live a few doors down.

"Where is he? I need my phone back! I have a date tonight and the address is in there!" Bobby shouted.

"Bobby Drake, if you yell at me one more time, I swear to god, I will follow you on every date for the rest of your life and sing "Bad Bad Leroy Brown." ALL NIGHT."

"You wouldn't."

"You'd think after all these years, people would stop questioning my commitment to a really embarrassing, good threat," Jubilee said darkly. "You added her on Facebook, you dipstick, just talk to her that way."

"I-god, fine, I want my phone back though!" he snapped, knowing he'd lost.

"Stop losing it then," she yelled after his retreating back. They heard Jubilee walking back to her room, muttering, "Ya moron." She pounded her fist on Gambit's door as she walked by and yelled, "Give Iceprick his phone back!" before slamming her own door closed.

Jubilee was fine with people underestimating her. In the field, it served her well. It got irritating at home though, when once in awhile she needed someone to do more than roll their eyes at her, which is when she went to Rogue or Gambit. They alone truly saw the inner Jubilee, the one that was more than giggles and fireworks. The Jubilee who loved her friends fiercely and would do what she had to for them.


	11. K is for Kids

Rogue and Gambit had been together for a year when he took her home to meet his family in New Orleans. It was during the summer, a few weeks before the start of term. Mercy and Henri, Gambit's sister-in-law and brother, had just had their first child and Gambit was excited to meet his niece.

They took a taxi to the guild's headquarters, Rogue fidgeting the whole time. When they started down the long driveway and she began picking at the fabric of her jeans, Gambit reached across and grasped her hand.

"What's going on in that pretty little head?" he asked, running his fingers over her hand. "Why so nervous?"

Rogue bit her lip before speaking. "I only have Kurt, one family member, you have this huge, illegal, badass family that I need to impress and I just…"

"Don't worry about that," Gambit said. "My cousins have dated far worse than you."

"Great," Rogue said drily. "I'm not as bad as your cousins' drunken mistakes. Fabulous."

Gambit laughed and kissed her forehead. "You worry too much, chère. They'll love you, I promise."

The cab let them out at a second set of gates before driving away quickly. Apparently the name LeBeau was still well known. They'd barely made it to the front door when it flew open. Rogue had a second to see a man standing there before he squirted Gambit in the face with a water gun. Gambit didn't move, just spat water off his face.

"And you're a parent?" Gambit said. The man laughed and pulled him into a hug. "Roguey, this is mon frère, Henri."

Henri shook the squirt gun at Rogue. "You get a pass this time, but be aware it's open season next time," Henri threatened somewhat jokingly.

"I'll come armed," Rogue promised.

"Good," Henri said pleasantly. "Now let's get you two inside, you need to meet the baby!"

A smiling, blonde woman stood just inside the door with a chubby little baby in her arms. Gambit grinned and made a beeline straight for her, dropping his luggage to the floor.

"Remy, meet Laure. Laure, say hi to Oncle Remy," Mercy said, waving one of Laure's pudgy little hands at him. Laure just blew spit bubbles.

"May I?" Remy asked, putting his hands out. Mercy grinned, handing Laure over. He cradled her reverently, making little cooing noises.

"Look at that, three seconds to melt his cold little heart," Rogue said with a smile.

"Dieu, sorry," Gambit said. "Mercy, Henri, this is Rogue. Rogue, mon frère is the twit with the water gun." Henri waved cheerily. "And this hellish woman is his wife, Mercy."

Mercy smiled indulgently. "Just wait 'til you don't have an infant in your arms Remy LeBeau, I'll remind you how hellish I can be," she said. She turned to Rogue. "Forgive my husband, he's mentally younger than Laure."

"Remy is, too," Rogue assured. "It's nothing new to me." Gambit handed Laure back to Mercy before bowing lowly in response.

"That seems to be a trend in this family," Mercy said. "They're professional when they need to be, but all overgrown children in any down time."

"Remy!"

They turned to see two men coming in. "Speaking of children," Mercy said to Rogue before turning to the newcomers. "This is Rogue, Remy's girlfriend."

"Theoren," one said, bowing deeply and kissing her hand.

"Eitenne," the other said, bumping the taller man out of the way and bowing even lower.

"You'd think you'd never brought a girl home before," Rogue said, throwing a smirk over her shoulder to Gambit.

"Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle-Dumbass," Gambit said good naturedly before yanking the two into a hug.

"It's been too long!" Theoren said, clapping Gambit on the back.

"You haven't even been taking any jobs for over a year!" Etienne added. "Your père isn't too happy about that."

"Well he and I will discuss that," Gambit said. "And I'm sure you gossip queens will know about it soon."

"So Remy," Henri said, crossing his arms. "How the sex life? Able to keep up with a younger woman? Still got a little zipitty in the ol' doo-dah?"

"Oh, it ain't little, sugar," Rogue said, wrapping am arm around Gambit's waist. "And I'd say 'zippity' is a mild word for mind-blowing –"

"Well, let's let these two get settled in," Mercy cut in over the sound of the men's whooping laughter.

Gambit gave Rogue a deep kiss before saying, "You're just jealous," to his cousins and brother, then led Rogue up the grand staircase.

"This place is huge," Rogue said. "And I've lived for years in a place we call a mansion, sheesh."

"It has to be," Gambit said. "We do everything here. Training, job planning, harboring thieves after assignments, equipment housing, all that."

Gambit led her down a lush hallway to a more private wing of the building. "This is where my family lives," he explained. "Mercy and Henri there, Père down the hall," he said, pointing to various doors. "Here we are."

Rogue's eyes went wide. "THIS is your childhood bedroom?" The room was done in deep maroons and dark blues. Masculine, yet obviously professionally decorated. The entire room was bigger than her and Gambit's rooms at Xavier's combined.

Gambit pointed to two sets of huge mahogany doors. "The left was is the closet, the right is the en suite."

"Sweet Jesus on a pogo stick."

"Such a lady," he said with a grin and dragged their luggage to the closet. "Tour before dinner?"

He dragged her all over the headquarters. There were a few places she obviously couldn't go, but he showed her everything he could. She wasn't even a little bit surprised at the huge game room. A video game area was secluded in the corner, while the majority of the space was filled with ping pong tables, pool tables, and a huge round table that Rogue was sure was used for poker.

The halls weren't exactly empty and they earned plenty of bluntly intrigued looks from people curious about the woman Remy LeBeau had brought home. Rogue was surprised at how many kids were running around the headquarters. When Gambit had told her he was a ranking member of the Thieves Guild, she hadn't really pictured a child-friendly environment.

"Well they have a lot of classes here," Gambit said, pointing into various rooms in the lower levels. Rogue looked at him blankly. "You know, training in martial arts and agility, lockpicking, security systems."

Rogue broke into a grin. "You have a thieving school?"

"Of course. It's not like public school will teach them how to get into a high-security vault," Gambit said. "Though I'm pretty sure Etienne asked his history teacher once…"

"So they aren't home, er, guild-schooled then?" Rogue asked.

Gambit shook his head. "No, we tried for a bit but we need them to have social skills to blend in with and be able to read targets. Sometimes spending all their time with us morally bankrupt thieves makes them a little crass to the average person."

"No way," Rogue said monotonously. "Never you."

"On that note, let's go have dinner with a bunch of morally sideways master thieves."

Rogue didn't know what she was expecting, maybe a table of elegantly dressed people in elaborate jewels, or maybe everyone dressed in cat suits, but they looked just like any other family sitting down to eat. Henri was struggling to keep a hold on Laure, who was refusing to stay in her highchair, Mercy was rubbing her temples while drinking tea, looking like she wanted nothing more in the world than a nap, and at the head of the table was a distinguished looking older man reading a bunch of papers in front of him.

Gambit cleared his throat before saying, "Père?" The gray haired man looked up, peering over his reading glassed. "This is Rogue. Rogue, this is mon père, Jean-Luc." He assessed them for a moment before standing to take Rogue's hand.

"Pleasure, Mr. LeBeau," Rogue said.

Jean-Luc kissed her hand. "Don't worry, Rogue. I'm not nearly as boring as I appear," he said. "No need to be so formal, we don't exactly stand on ceremony here." There was a laugh from behind them as Laure shoved a Cheerio up Henri's nose. "You may call me Jean-Luc."

"Oh good," Rogue said, relieved. "I'd be kicked out pretty fast if I had to curtsey or something whenever you came into a room."

"She'd probably fall," Gambit said.

"We may be at your house, but I'll still break your nose, Remy LeBeau."

"No bone breaking until after dinner!" They turned and Gambit grinned at the sight of the small, old woman tottering into the room.

"Rogue, this is Tante Mattie," he said.

"Lovely to meet you little one," she said hurriedly. She allowed Gambit a quick kiss on the cheek before shoving him bodily into a chair. Rogue quickly sat next to him before being pushed, too. Tante Mattie was rushing around, putting dishes down everywhere until she finally settled into a seat across from Rogue and Gambit. "Now," she said, all speed lost into a sweet voice. "Welcome, Rogue. Gambit told us you love scalloped potatoes and turkey, so here we are."

"Oh, you didn't have to do that," Rogue said, surprised.

"Nonsense. It's a welcome into the family," Tante Mattie said.

Gambit noted Rogue shifting minutely at those words, but was sure his family didn't know her well enough to see her tells. "Well, thank you," she said humbly. They finished dinner slowly, Gambit's family catching him up on everything he'd missed in the past year or so. Rogue watched raptly, engrossed in how he interacted with his family. It was like a whole new part of him had opened up. There was suddenly this completely family-oriented man that she'd only been peripherally aware of. It was one of the most adorable things she'd ever seen, but at the same time, it filled her a bit of uneasiness.

Gambit spent the next two days taking Rogue around New Orleans. The first time, he indulged her touristy side and brought her to Bourbon Street all the major attractions, but day two he took her all over his favorite local haunts. The first bar was a little too full of women eying him for Rogue's liking. She was pretty amused though, at how far his playboy status was known. The bartender in the first place they went took a double take and asked Gambit why he was out with a woman in the middle of the day instead of just at night. Rogue had laughed. "Well aren't you just a famous little slut."

Her favorite place was this little hole in the wall restaurant in a back alley by the water. As soon as she stepped in, she could tell that everyone in the room was dangerous in at least one way or another. Besides the obvious physical cues, it was just a vibe she got. But absolutely no one seemed to care. Everyone was aware, but everyone was also at ease, just relaxing. After Gambit and Rogue took their seats, the owner came over, a man name Sean.

"Remy, been a long time," he said, shaking his hand.

"Been a little busy," Gambit said. "Anything interesting tonight?"

Sean shrugged. "A few assassins in celebrating, you just missed Emil and Theoren. Poker game on Friday. Got a couple out-of-towners at table eight. Pretty sure they're arms dealers or something similar. Nothing out of the ordinary."

Rogue raised her eyebrows. Thieves, assassins, and arms dealers were things she'd consider out of the ordinary, but Sean and Gambit were just talking as if he asked what tonight's specials were. Once they'd ordered and Sean had walked away, Rogue looked at Gambit incredulously. "Um, what is this place?"

Gambit shrugged. "There's no real name. People just call it the neutral zone."

Rogue grinned. "As in, Star Trek reference?"

"Maybe," Gambit said slyly. "It's basically a place all us scum of the city can come and not worry about being ambushed by each other. Assassins can't kill here, thieves don't steal from here, dealers of any kind don't do business here or anywhere too close. Actually, the sex shop next door doesn't know it, but they're probably one the safest places in the city."

"So anyone can just come in?" Rogue asked, picturing the place full of hookers.

"Well, the elite of the city's scum," Gambit conceded.

"How can a place like this even exist? Doesn't everyone's business come first?"

"Well everyone needs a night out sometimes, somewhere to relax. It used to be an unspoken rule about this place forty years ago when Sean's father owned the place. There was a big meeting between the major guilds, gangs, heavy hitters, etc., and everyone agreed it's an out of bounds area. Whoever violates that answers to Sean," Gambit explained.

Rogue stuck her head out of their booth, taking in the small, smiling Sean across the restaurant shaking hands with what Rogue could only assume was a mafia boss, and raised her eyebrows at Gambit. "Sean. Really?"

"He doesn't look like much, but he packs a wallop," Gambit said. "So what do you think?"

"I like it," Rogue said honestly. "It's very beautiful, in a creepy, back alley way."

"Drawn to dangerous things, are we?"

"Well I'm with you, aren't I?"

After they'd finished, with a few nods at the other heavy hitters, Gambit took Rogue back home. They were barely two steps in the door when Henri was on them, shoving a box of what looked to be weapons and lock picks into his hands. "Wha-" Rogue couldn't even finish her word before Mercy was setting Laure into her arms and following Henri out at a run to the lower levels.

"Henri!" Remy shouted after them.

"Just give us a moment!" Henri yelled back.

"Are you going to have sex?" Remy said. "Why am I holding this?"

"We're late for a meeting with Jean-Luc!" Mercy said, disappearing around the corner. Her voice was muffled but they still heard her shout of, "We'll be back!"

"Merde," Gambit muttered, dropping the box to the side and turned back to Rogue, seeing her holding Laure by the armpits, the baby a foot in front of her. Rogue's face was twisted in rare insecurity, unsure what to do with an infant. "Rogue," Gambit said slowly. "She's a baby, she not a bomb."

"I know," Rogue said and struggled to get Laure into a comfortable position. "I'm just, not so much with the babies."

"No kidding," Gambit said and rearranged Rogue's arms to the correct way to hold a baby. "There, see? Perfect." 

Rogue nodded a bit and they walked into the living room to wait for Henri and Mercy to get back. Eventually Gambit took over Laure duty and Rogue breathed a sigh of relief, sinking back a little into the couch. 

 

Once they'd been relieved of babysitting duty, they'd made a dash for their room, Gambit kissing her the whole way. He'd stripped out of his shirt and was working on hers when he noticed her biting her lip. He pulled back, studying her face. "What's on your mind, chère?" he asked. "You've been less snarky tonight."

Rogue laughed. "It's probably not a good things that your signal for something being wrong is me being nice."

"I dated an assassin," Gambit reminded her. "You're like a sexy Mother Theresa compared to her." Rogue snorted. "So?"

Rogue sighed. She knew this conversation was going to come eventually, she just was hoping to avoid it for as long as possible. "It's…I'm not…" She struggled to articulate her thoughts before just blurting out. "I don't want to have kids." She tried to read Gambit's reaction, but his face was neutral, encouraging her to speak what was on her mind. "I don't. I never have. Plus, what if things get worse in the next ten, twenty years? What if mutants are hunted and killed? What if the world gets worse, why would I bring a child, most likely a mutant, into that?"

Gambit watched her face as she spoke. Once she'd started, it was as if she couldn't stop. They'd never broached the subject before, both avoiding any long-term commitment talk. So far, they'd enjoyed the moment and lived in their relationship, but not made any specific plans.

"Besides, what if I can't? What if my mutation eats the fetus up? What if someone keeps hurting mutant kids? I don't want that," she said.

Gambit nodded and took her hands between his. Her face was anxious, searching his for any sign of anger or rejection. "Are those the reasons why you don't want children? Because of what might happen to them? If so, that's not a good reason. Parents protect their children and we both know you're fierce in what and who you protect. If those are the reasons why, you should reevaluate that. Or do you just not want children? If so, that's just fine, too. What is it that you really want?"

"I don't want kids," she said. "I never have. Some kids played house and mommy, I played the aunt that lived next door. People just know if they want to be parents, and some people just know they don't and I just don't." Rogue started speaking very fast at that point. "And I saw how you are with your niece and all your family this week and how you're such a family man and I don't want to give you a family of your own and that's kind of a make or break deal in a relationship and-"

"Whoa whoa, chèrie," Gambit said, pulling her face into his hands. "Is that what you've been worried about? That I'm going to leave you if you don't want kids?"

"Yes," she said quietly.

"No, Dieu, je t'aime ma belle d'amour," he murmured, kissing down her forehead, nose, cheeks, and lips. "Is that what's been worrying you?"

"I don't know if this would cause you to not want to be with me, if there's not future…"

"I don't want kids either," he said. Rogue instantly sagged in relief. "Don't get me wrong, I love ma famille, and the children at the school, but I don't want my own. I'll be a fabulous oncle, and I'll be there for the Xavier kids that need me, but I don't want my own."

Rogue threw her arms around him. "Oh thank god," she muttered. "I didn't want this to be the end."

"This isn't the end, chère. We haven't even gotten close to the end."


	12. L is for Lucidity

Most couples, at some point in time, see the other when they're not entirely lucid. That seemed to happen to Gambit and Rogue a lot more than most.

Rogue had seen Gambit drunk only a few times, and usually it was in the company of Logan. Besides the few, awful times that were brought on by his occasional bouts of self loathing, it was generally amusing. Gambit once had stumbled into her room hammered, supported by a smirking Logan who tossed him onto Rogue's bed. Gambit landed with a giggle ("I shit you not," Rogue said the next day when Gambit denied it) and snuggled up to Rogue, curling around her leg. Rogue raised an eyebrow and looked to Logan for an explanation.

"I thought you didn't approve of us staying in the same room?" Rogue said, teasingly.

"I don't," Logan said with a shrug. "But I ain't on barf duty tonight. He's your problem." With that, he turned around and left, annoyingly sober.

Rogue looked down at Gambit, curled around her like a kitten, and couldn't muster up any irritation. She didn't exactly like cutesy things. She'd had a stuffed turtle, but had never ooh-ed and ah-ed at teddy bears or baby dolls or anything like that. But Gambit, rubbing his face on her pant leg like cat marking its scent, made her suddenly understand fangirls' urges to squeal.

When she tried to stand, he huffed and curled in tighter, and started licking her pant leg. Rogue sighed and reached down, trying to disentangle him from her legs but he just gripped tighter. "Sug, I gotta at least brush my teeth before bed," she said, trying to reason with him. Apparently drunk Gambit gave no fucks at all, and he just shook his head. She tried to be irritated but was entirely too amused.

Rogue woke up the next morning to Gambit lying the wrong way on the bed, his feet in her face. She groaned, throwing his legs away from her. Gambit grunted with the sudden contact, sitting straight up. "Whazzgoin'on? What? Oh god," he groaned, grabbing his head.

"Morning sunshine," Rogue grumbled and pulled herself out of bed. She hadn't slept well at all with a drunk, kicky Gambit at her side. She stumbled into the bathroom, feeling disgusting from the lack of sleep, and moaned at her reflection. Her hair was sticking up in every direction and the bags under her eyes looked vaguely like she and Gambit had gotten in a fight. He came up behind her, a little dizzy from the hangover.

"Chair," he started. "I mean, chère."

Rogue snorted and started brushing out the rat nest that was her hair. "You better feel lucky, Cajun. Anyone else would be sleeping in the hallway."

"I appreciate it," he muttered. "Have any aspirin?" Rogue tossed him a bottle and he raised his eyebrows. "Midol?"

"It's basically Tylenol," she said. "You're not going to grow ovaries."

He wrapped his arms around her from behind, resting his head on her shoulder. "Have I mentioned how much I love you?"

She smiled, reaching back to run her hand through his hair. "I love you, too. If you weren't so adorable, I'd have kicked you out."

Gambit never saw Rogue get wasted drunk, she didn't especially like the feeling of being the out of control, especially with her mutation, but he did see her doped up on pain killers. Logan had the bad timing of being out on a training mission with some junior X-Men when Rogue had broken her arm. She'd been trying to coax a teleporter student off the roof when she was knocked off her ladder by a mutant football game gone awry. The kids, terrified as they were, ran right to Hank to help her up.

Hank had to reset her arm, which had broken in three spots, until Logan could come back and lend his healing abilities. He insisted on giving her painkillers, mostly for her own benefit, but also because he didn't want to end up whacked over the head by a ticked off Rogue. By the time Gambit had made it down to the med lab, Rogue was already dosed.

"Remy!" she cried when he came in. He approached the table she was lying on, arm wrapped securely. "Hi!"

Gambit suppressed a grin, barely. "How you feeling, Roguey-Roo?"

Rogue giggled. "Roo? Like in Winnie the Pooh?"

"You're precious," he said, patting her lightly on the head.

"So are you," she said, smiling up at him. "You're pretty."

"I try," Gambit said, flipping his hair.

"And I'm pretty too, damn it," she said.

"Oh very pretty. And dangerous too. You're like a leopard. Or a pink tazer."

"I got my own tazers," she said, wiggling her fingers.

"That you do, mon chèrie."

"Remy," she said, face suddenly turning into a scowl. "My arm hurts."

Gambit's face turned sympathetic and he leaned down, pressing a kiss to her forehead. "I know, mon amour, I know."

She turned her face into his shoulder and he fumbled behind him for a chair so he wouldn't have to stand up and move her. She mumbled something into him arm but he had no idea what it was. Two seconds later she was passed out, uninjured arm clinging to Gambit like he was her favorite teddy bear. Hank admitted that he may have overdone it on the pain medicine a little bit.

While he had to admit that had been ridiculously cute, the next time she wasn't herself wasn't. It was in fact one of the scariest moments of his life. Rogue had had to absorb a mutant that Gambit was ready to describe as purely bat shit crazy. Mission over, bad guy back in jail, they'd loaded into the jet and headed back to the mansion. Gambit sat quietly by Rogue while she rested her elbows on her knees, hand cradled in her hands. He let her be, careful not to touch her. This was time he knew she needed after an absorption to get her head together. She beelined out of the jet as soon as they landed. Logan and Gambit exchanged a look, for once being on the exact same page. Both wanted to help the Rogue they loved (in very different ways) and both knew that the best thing for her was to let her sort through it herself.

By the time dinner was over, Gambit couldn't wait anymore. He went up to Rogue's room and was about to knock when he heard the unmistakable sound of glass breaking. He opened the door quicker than he ever had before to see Rogue standing in the shards of her dresser mirror. The blankets were ripped off the bed, pictures were crooked, and the floor was littered with personal possessions.

"Rogue," Gambit said cautiously. "What's going on?" When he got closer, he noticed the bloody knuckles and the holes in her walls and windows. He swore under his breath.

"Rogue has left the building!" she said with a grandiose bow. "I'm her wonderful replacement, full of intrigue and blood- NO. Get out get out get out!" Rogue suddenly slammed her hand into the side of her head as if she was trying to knock the other personality from her head. Voices erupted from her mouth, some he recognized, some he didn't.

"You just gonna stand there, bub, or what?

What a sad little girl, all alone in her sad little world.

My dear, if you had just died for our cause, we wouldn't have all this pain now would we? The mutant community has you to blame.

Fucking mutie, dirty scum ass piece of-

Rogue damn it, get a fucking grip.

Stop stop stop stop!"

Gambit stood transfixed, helpless. He had no idea what to do in this kind of situation. Would talking to her make it worse? Would she even recognize him? Would she lash out? Before he could make a decision, Rogue's face twisted into a snarl and the slow drawl of the night's crazy mutant oozed from her mouth. "For the cause," she hissed and punched Gambit right in the temple. The last thing he saw before his hazy vision faded was Rogue standing in the middle of a circle of glass, laughing and crying.

When he came to, his head was a pounding like a bass drum. He couldn't remember where he was at first, but as soon as he opened his eyes, it came right back. He sat up, frantically looking around, afraid that Rogue had left the room, but there she was, sitting in the far corner, shaking from head to toe. He managed to stand and slowly made his way over to her, approaching her like you would a wounded animal.

"Rogue," he said softly, kneeling in front of her.

"Am I?" she asked, voice equally low. "I don't know anymore."

Gambit grabbed her hand and held it to his chest. "Push him down, Rogue, push them away. You know you can, it's just like any other psyche."

"I know," she said. "But…no, he's not. He's like me."

"What do you mean?"

Rogue's eyes were fixed on her knees when she answered him. "He's…there are so much voices in his head. It's like he's me and there are a billion people inside him and I got them all and they won't just be quiet. And if I don't concentrate, everyone in my head starts Mardi Gras and my body is Bourbon Street."

Gambit sat next to her, pulling her into his body. She clung to him, the last solid thing around her that she knew was real. "I'm not going away, chère. The Rogue I love is in control, and I'll be here until your sexy warrior self puts them all in their places." Rogue smiled, though it was a bit pained, and they sat in silence. It took most of the next day, and a few psyches having tantrums, but Rogue got everyone locked away and was back to herself. Gambit stayed next to her the whole time.

A month before their one year anniversary, Gambit was thrown off a bridge. He smashed into the water and nearly drowned before Kitty managed to get him to safety. She and Rogue sat with him on the bank of the river, waiting for Hank, both too scared to move him in case something was seriously wrong. Gambit was bleeding badly from a gash in his side and his whole body felt like he's been hit by a semi truck. It hurt to breathe, to think, to exist.

Rogue bit her lip, wanting to hold his hand or something but unsure where he didn't hurt. She called his name, begging him to stay conscious. That was when Gambit started hallucinating. He saw Belladonna, twirling a knife behind Rogue's back. Magneto, dragging her away from him. Kitty telling Rogue that Gambit was dead, that they needed to leave. He called out, thrashing. Kitty and Rogue attempted to hold him down, trying to keep him from hurting himself more. Kitty looked at Rogue, panic in her eyes when Gambit finally passed out.

Hank, Kitty, and Rogue managed to get Gambit into the jet and then the med lab. Hank ran a battery of tests before confirming it was a concussion and cracked ribs. Gambit wasn't excited to tell her about what he'd seen when he was blacking out, but he did.

"My biggest fear," he confessed, "is you being taken from me."

"I'm not leaving you," Rogue said, running fingers down his arm. "They can try to drag me away as much as they want, but don't underestimate how viscous and violent I can be. They try to take what I love, they'll be picking their teeth up from the dirt."

Gambit smiled and kissed her hand. "Thanks my fierce little daisy."


	13. M is for Memories

Rogue was beyond pissed. The worst part was, she didn't even know why. And that made her even more pissed. The problem was, she had a whole bunch of people in her head making problems for her. Usually, all the psyches in her head were kept in their own little locked room in the back corner of her mind. That way, she didn't have to deal with them unless she wanted to. Sometimes, however, they leaked through a bit. Especially around certain triggers. Jubilee had brought Rogue along for moral support when she'd gotten her first tattoo. Rogue had almost leapt out of her chair and stabbed the artist with his tattoo gun before getting a grip and politely excusing herself. It took her nearly two hours until she figured out that it was Magneto's response to that tattooing process that made her flip out. Which had ticked her off since she'd wanted to get one done herself.

She figured out that Bobby was deathly afraid of bees when one landed on Gambit's shoulder and she punched him in an effort to kill it. Gambit had looked at her with wide eyes and arms raised in an 'I surrender' gesture. The worst was probably when she'd recently absorbed Pete along with some of his more…carnal desires. The next time she looked at Kitty was during a staff movie night. When she glanced at her friend, the image of her in blue lingerie that Pete recently bought for her overtook her. Rogue choked on her popcorn and had to run out of the room, suddenly extremely aroused and blushing furiously. Gambit had given her so much shit for that.

But now, Rogue was furious. Illogically furious. While Kitty and Rogue were making sandwiches for lunch, Kitty started humming a song under her breath. Rogue didn't know it, but the Wolverine in her head sure did. She didn't know why he hated it, but rage surged through her as soon as Kitty was three notes in. Her hands clenched around the bag of bread, mashing the last few pieces. Kitty glanced over and stopped humming.

"Rogue…are you okay?" she asked cautiously.

Rogue forced her fingers to relax and let go of the bread, but she couldn't make the adrenaline fueled fury stop. She nodded and made a beeline for the door. "Just…" she pointed to her head, "this."

She heard Kitty's answer of, "Oh," before she was out of the kitchen. She ignored the curious stares she got in the hall and focused on getting to her room without biting someone's head off. She didn't even notice that one of the people she'd brushed by was Gambit. He called her name but she didn't seem to hear him. He did see her head down and one hand on her temple, which gave him a pretty good idea of what was going on. He turned right around and went to the kitchen, running into Kitty.

"Hey Gambit, Rogue's having a-"

"I know," Gambit said, rummaging through the cabinets.

"Hey," Kitty said, and Gambit turned just in time for her to throw him a jar of Nutella.

"Merci," Gambit said. He left a few moments later with the Nutella, a bag of Funyons, hot chocolate, and cornbread. He made a detour to his room and grabbed a candle he and Rogue had bought when they were on holiday in Fiji. He didn't bother knocking, knowing if she was in a mood it wouldn't matter if he knocked or barged in, either would irritate her. So he just walked in and locked the door behind him. He might get away with invading her space, but anyone else was easy prey.

When he came in, Rogue was on the phone. "Logan," she said tersely, "you owe me a steak dinner." Silence for a minute as she listened. "Why? Because I can't hear Kitty whistling "The Way You Look Tonight" without wanting to break her leg. Don't you fucking growl at me, you giant testosterone, it's not my stunted emotional capacity that's the cause of this and it's either a steak dinner or you spend Thursday shopping with me for lingerie and tampons. In bulk." The threat apparently worked because Rogue said, "You're damn right," and hung up.

In the time she'd been on the phone, Gambit had lit the tropical, citrusy candle and set the Nutella, Funyons, and cornbread down on her bed. He carefully took the phone from her hands and replaced it with the hot chocolate before she had the chance to snap at him. She took a deep breath, inhaling the smell that brought her back to Fiji. Sunbathing on the private beach, kissing Gambit in the ocean, luxuriating in the feeling of her skin sliding across his. When he looked up at him, the rage was leaking out of her face, replaced with irritation, confusion, and sadness.

"I love you," he said simply. He leaned forward, arms on hers, and kissed her forehead. "Tres belle," he whispered, lips ghosting over her skin. Rogue let out a satisfied breath and leaned into him, letting him rub her back and nuzzle her until he reluctantly pulled away. "You should drink that before it gets cold."

"Thanks," she said. She retreated to her bed, followed by Gambit who opened the bag of Funyons. He munched on a few before passing them to her with the jar of Nutella.

"You know that's disgusting, yes?" Gambit asked when she dipped the Funyon into the Nutella.

"Says you," she answered. "To me, comfort food."

"Then why do you always want cornbread?"

"More comfort food."

"You know most women want ice cream or a chocolate bar or something."

Rogue glared at him. "Then feel free to go find some normal woman or some shit-"

He thrust the cornbread at her with a smirk. "I wouldn't know what to do with a normal woman anymore. I'd go to pick her up for a date with Nutella-covered Funyons and an oven-fresh pan of cornbread. She'd probably think I was planning on killing her and selling her to some weird southern cannibal restaurant."

Rogue snorted and accepted the cornbread. They ate in silence for awhile, Rogue's anger dwindling the longer they were together until she was left with just sadness. "You know, this really sucks," she said. She rested her head on his shoulder, sighing and inching as close as she could to him. Right then, all she wanted was to curl up with him and stop existing for awhile. To pretend that the world outside wasn't real, that the only thing in reality was her and him wrapped up together. But all too soon they were waking up and getting ready for another day. Rogue did what she always did; she stood up straight and marched out into the big bad world.

Then there was that one time that Rogue got mad at Gambit for something his psyche said. Kitty and Jubilee were sitting in the lounge, trying very hard not to look too delighted while they watched Gambit try to reason with Rogue.

"Rogue, I didn't say it!"

"You were thinking it."

"I was not!"

"Remy LeBeau I HAVE YOU IN MY HEAD."

"I don't think you look fat in the grey dress!" Gambit insisted. He looked around to Jubilee and Kitty for help, but they violently shook their heads, refusing to get in Rogue's way. "Chère, you know I like teasing, I was probably just being a little ass-"

"Oh I know you're an ass," she said. Rogue was sitting in a wingback chair, snapping at Gambit over the cover of a book

"Rouge," Gambit said, exasperated. "I didn't say that! A snarky, tiny sliver of me that's trapped in your brain did!"

"You compared how I looked in it to how Danica wore a similar one," Rogue said, voice dangerous. Jubilee swore in the corner but neither Gambit nor Rogue looked at her.

"Who's Danica?" Jubilee asked.

"Danica," Rogue said, eyes never leaving Gambit's face, "is a supermodel Gambit slept with a few years ago."

"Shit, bro."

"You're not helping," Gambit snapped before turning back to Rogue. "Rogue, we both know you're a thousand times more stunning than her."

"Uh huh," Rogue said, flicking to her book's next page.

"Rooooogue," Gambit groaned, plopping into the chair next to hers. "Did you see why I dumped her?"

"Because you were done boning her?" Rogue guessed, eyes still on her book.

"Non," Gambit said, leaning over to bridge the distance between them as best he could. "I left her because she was dull. All she wanted was to be told she was beautiful, and didn't care about anything beyond what people thought of her. She refused to eat well and take care of herself, no matter what I said. And she didn't care about me."

Rogue finally looked at him then. "Then why would your psyche compare us?"

"Did you let him finish speaking?" Gambit asked.

Rogue glared. "Why would I?"

"If I had to guess what I was saying in your head, gods that's a weird sentence, I was trying to be cute and romantic-"

"By comparing me to your ex?!"

"By saying that no matter what frivolous similarities there are between you two, that you will always be the most beautiful, caring, feisty ass woman I've ever met, and even when life is hard, there's no one I'd rather struggle with more than you," Gambit said, eyes pleading.

"Aww," Kitty sighed.

"Too cute, may vomit," Jubilee added.

Rogue tried valiantly not to smile, but the corners of her lips were twitching upwards. "Your psyche is vehemently agreeing," she said.

"Because he loves the hell out of you, just like I do."

"Okay," Jubilee said, jumping up. "I'm gonna go drink some lemon juice to get this disgustingly sweet taste out of my mouth." Kitty followed, giving one more 'aw' before leaving.

"You're lucky you're a smooth talker, Cajun," Rogue said, taking his extended hand and crawling into his lap.

"Smooth talking, my ass," Gambit said. "That's for Valentine's Day cards and marriage proposals, this was me trying to convince my love how amazing she is."

Rogue snorted. "You can stop the whole wooing now, you survived the wrath, you're good," she said.

Gambit nuzzled his face in her neck, kissing her lightly. "It's not wooing, chère, it's just the truth."

"Jubilee is right, I'm gonna get cavities from your sweet crap, sugar," Rogue said, shaking her head. "I love you, too, though."

"So, no more blaming me for things that happen in your head?"

"You know, to anyone hearing that, you could sound like the biggest dick on the planet," Rogue said conversationally.

"I don't know about the entire Earth, but I'm flattered you think so much about my dic-"

"You work in a SCHOOL."


End file.
